Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, November 26, 1993 TAG: 9311260043
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ADRIENNE PETTY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
At least once a week, her closest friends write to her about the boys they have crushes on.
They've even penned love letters, signed "Your Secret Admirer," to the boys they're sweet on.
Although car phones, fax machines and voice mail have made letter-writing a dead art in some circles, the children at Snow Creek School in southern Franklin County are scribbling letters with a passion - and delivering them, too.
Snow Creek is among a growing number of schools adopting the U.S. Postal Service's "Wee Deliver" program, which was established to "stamp out illiteracy."
But Rebecca Rhodes and Brenda Strickland, the faculty members who set up the program at Snow Creek, said the program achieves much more. In addition to piquing their pupils' interest in reading and writing, the program has improved attendance and behavior and given the children a sense of responsibility and improved self-esteem.
"Sometimes I have a cold, but I come to school anyway," said Mallory Adkins, the school's postmaster.
It has even cut down on the passing of notes during class.
"I get so much back from it without much effort," said Strickland, who teaches fourth grade.
Last year, the pupils were so geared up they even wrote their teachers over the summer.
And the kids get an early jump on taking the civil-service exam. To become employees of the school's postal system, fourth-graders must fill out a short application, take the "exam" - with questions such as, "On which corner does the post office cancel a letter?" - and go through an interview. Rhodes, the school librarian, has considered adding a short autobiography to the application requirement.
The latest recruits, Adkins, Alesia Day, Kristy Haskins, Cassie Heath and Robbie Jones, all 9, are running a postal system that could rival Federal Express, United Parcel Service and even the Postal Service.
They give unlimited next-day service. In some cases, they can deliver mail on the same day.
In less than five minutes, the crew sorts the mail and stamps "return to sender" on improperly addressed envelopes.
There's no problem these workers can't handle, although Matthew Strickland, now a fifth-grader, once came across a puzzling one.
Around this time last year, someone addressed a letter to the "North Pole."
The post office is a small alcove in the school with bins for sorting and a blue plastic mailbox where students deposit their letters.
"In the mornings when we get off the bus, we come down here, get the mail out of the box, and we start doing our jobs," said postmaster Adkins.
Jones, the carrier, delivers the mail to the classrooms, which have such names as Lemon Drop Lane, Green Gables and Reading Rainbow.
This rural school even has the flair of a small town, with black metal mailboxes, park benches, a rainbow array of awnings over each classroom door, and potted trees and hanging plants lining the halls.
Jones said her most eager customers are the kindergartners.
"They'll come up behind you and say, `Did we get any mail?' And if they didn't, they say, `Aw, man.' "
Justin Muncy, a fifth-grader, said he enjoyed working as a carrier last year because he had the privilege of walking through the halls without a hall pass.
For Allison Amos, 9, Wee Deliver is both fun and convenient.
"You don't have to talk on the telephone at night," she said. "You can just write at school."
For information on Wee Deliver, call your local postmaster.
by CNB