Successful Schools have a Strong Home-to-School Connection!



Class of 1940, Cherry Road School

 So many wonderful, common-sense strategies made Cherry Road School successful right from the start in 1927. One of the strongest of these strategies that flourished for many years was the partnerships formed with parents and neighbors.

More and more schools today are realizing this again. Here is a Home to School Resource Guide provided by Edutopia, a publication of the George Lucas Educational Foundation.

This Guide is filled with suggestions on how to make parent partnerships successful.

Marion Parsons, the first and longest running principal of Cherry Road School, established the Mother's Club and the Parent-Teacher Association during her first year, and fostered and sustained these groups and these partnerships for 25 years. Without the help of these appreciated parents, the school could not have survived the hardships of The Great Depression, World War II, and troubled economic times that meant one teacher for each grade, sometimes as many as 45 kids in one classroom. With the help of the community, the school became and has remained one of the highest-rated schools in New York State!

Ask any alumni who is today in their 80s, even 90s, what was the most significant experience of their childhood and they will tell you without hesitation: Cherry Road School. Much of that success is the result of the strong home and school connections. These stories and others are chronicled in The Brass Bell.

Seeking Old Pictures!

This is Cherry Road School today. As I work on the finishing touches of the book, The Brass Bell, I am looking for pictures of the school, the people, and the area taken any time from 1890 to 1953.

I am also looking for original newspaper clippings. It's very expensive to purchase originals from the archives of the local newspapers, so if anyone interested in this story and this project would be willing to send me original pictures or articles (there were many articles written about the school and published in the Syracuse Herald or Post Standard), I will scan and return to you. Of course, credit will go to any contributors in the book.

If you have any pictures, articles, or stories of your own (it's not too late) you would like to contribute, please contact me at: camille@camillecole.com, or at my office: 503.344.4434.

Stay tuned to this site for progress updates! Thanks to all who have contributed so much already! This has been a labor of love and awareness of the importance of history for all involved.

Book Project Update

Patience is not only a virtue during the book publishing process, it's a survival technique. These things take time.

The current version of The Brass Bell is under final consideration through a peer review process at the university press. I have confidence they will like the book as much as everyone else who has read it, and then the contract will be finalized and the editorial and production phase will begin.

I fear it's taking so long that people think I'm making it up, that there is no publisher, and there is no book.

My father died yesterday and I'm sad he didn't live to see the book about his childhood, his school, his grandfather, and his beloved Aunt Marion. I told him before he died it wouldn't be long and the book would be a reality, and he cried. They were tears of happiness.

The writing of a book is more than putting words on paper. Whether it's fiction, non-fiction, or narrative non-fiction, a book is given birth to from the author's soul. It is inspired by something that has touched them deeply, and it is never a solitary process. It takes support from family, from friends and colleagues. Without the help I've been offered by so many, there would be no Brass Bell.

Another Book Update

What's going on with the book project? The Brass Bell made its way through a peer review process at an academic press. The feedback was very positive and there were also a couple of very good suggestions provided. One of those is to include a where-are-they-now section to follow-up on the stars of the book: those who were there back when Marion Parsons was principal of Cherry Road School, when they held together as a community and made it through The Great Depressions and World War II, those who are generous and shared their memories, their stories.


So while I polish up the book one more time I am also requesting follow-up stories from some of the people who contributed significant stories about their past: What happened to them after they left Cherry Road and Westvale? Where are they now?

Once the book is submitted again to face the next round of the process, this version of The Brass Bell will be voted on by the Acquisitions Committee.

I'll keep you posted!