MARYSVILLE It was a day off for most teachers, but former Liberty Elementary School students and parents joined staff to put their best face forward on Oct. 13.
About two dozen volunteers armed with rakes, saws and blowers swarmed over the south side of the oldest building in the Marysville School District for a quick facelift. Workers cleaned, pruned, swept and renovated the 10th Street facade of the brick building and wood portables.
This is where we are focusing, here on 10th Street, said principal Joan Watt. We are starting on 10th Street because we want our best face forward.
Watt expects to have about 10 work parties this school year, with painting to be done in warmer weather. Watt corralled a diverse work crew, with parents, grandparents and former students from just a few years ago to those who left the building when it wasnt even near downtown.
Our students and our staff take great pride in our school, Watt said.
Janelle McFalls is a teacher at the school and her husband Martin McFalls is a Marysville firefighter who attended a long time ago. He was working the place with seventh-graders Megan Calbero of Cedarcrest Middle School and Liz Paglia and Kimmy Davis of Marysville Middle School, across 47th Avenue NE from Liberty.
We miss it, said Calbero as she helped Paglia load tree trimmings onto a district pickup truck.
Its fun to help out your community, Paglia said.
Building custodian Dale Shake has been at Liberty for 16 years and he lauded the volunteers for their work, especially the recent students.
I think its great that they care enough about school to come here and do this, Shake said. And it is looking better, definitely.
Nearby Christie Allen was using an extended pole saw to trim bushes that had grown into shrubs or shrubs that had grown into trees next to the trio of portables on the schools south side. Allen has taught second grade at Liberty for a decade and said the spruce up was all Watts idea. A few feet away a Liberty grandmother named Kim Williams declared a truce on the spruce, Ive butchered enough trees today, Williams laughed.