• Written remarks from Dr. John Morris, founding principal of Sorrento Springs (est. 1973)

    Reflections of Dr. John Morris (the first principal of Sorrento Springs), written sometime in the 1990s.

     

    Thoughts on Sorrento

     

    The first time I saw the future home of the Sorrento Springs School, cows and horses were grazing where the school sits today.  After becoming the principal of the “new school,” I drove down to the school site, up a dirt road (now Tumulty Drive), and leaned over the pasture gate (now where the parking lot stop signs are) and took my first photo.  There was a nice pond down where the houses in Brightfield have since been built.


    It took better than a year to build the school.  The winter was particularly hard with lots of snow, ice, and thaws & freezes.  Concrete trucks got stuck in the muck and polywoggles (mud).  When it looked as if we would not have a building for the start of the school year, we looked around for some place to rent.  Kindergartners went to the Hanna Woods School and were housed on the stage.  All other students were bused eight miles up the road to the Barat Hall Building.  This was a gymnasium with a few small rooms around the edge of the gymnasium.


    The fourteen weeks of being in a temporary building included some of the following:

     -We had outdoor classrooms.  We were so crowded that our reading and music teachers
    met under shade trees out in the field.

     -Water was very short in supply.  Two thousand gallons of water were brought in by truck
     every four hours and put in a cistern from which we pumped the water for drinking.

     -The building had no furnace in it.  As November was approaching, we were wondering
    about how to keep warm.  But, we were very fortunate in that it was a wonderfully mild
     autumn.

    The official Sorrento Springs School Building was complete.  On the Sunday afternoon of November 4, 1973.  We took a chance that it would be acceptable to the county building inspectors.  On Friday afternoon, all the children at the Barat Hall location brought in a big paper bag and took all their desk possessions home with them.  They brought them to the new building on Monday morning.  All the parents and all the Parkway maintenance people and all the staff loaded furniture from Barat Hall, from the Parkway Storage Area, and from Hanna Woods.  All this was brought to Sorrento on Friday night, all day Saturday, and all day Sunday.  Everyone worked in putting new furniture together and in setting up all our classrooms.  A cheer went up at 3:15 Sunday afternoon when the county building inspector said we could hold school the next day.  That evening, Sunday evening, we all got together, and had a big family picnic, and a square dance…like in the old barn raising days of early America.  On Monday morning, we said our first Pledge of Allegiance in the new building…we were, and are today, the Sorrento Springs School.

     

    Those first years at Sorrento Springs moved very quickly.  We seemed to have a number of challenges and opportunities.  The school’s program featured several “firsts” for Parkway and for the nation.  We had the first preschool program connected with a public school in Parkway.  Hanna Woods and Sorrento Springs were the first to have computers in an elementary school (in the nation).  Sorrento Springs had the first Career Education Program in the state.  We had a mini-farm, and part of our farming operations was to take the food (garbage) not eaten at lunch over to a pig farmer (right around the corner on Big Bend) after school.  


    All the staff was required to have first aid, CPR, and fist-o-lift training.  We were the first school to do this in Parkway.  Our "Block Home Program" was the first in Parkway, it was copied from Kennard School in St. Louis.


    Sorrento Springs was an open space school.  You could sit in sixth grade and look all the way down to the fourth grade.  We did not have an art room, and you could stand in the front hall and look out the back windows in what is now Mr. Swingle’s room.


    Top soil was scarce and during the construction the school district sold the top soil to local developers.  In scraping it off, they found prehistoric fossils on the slope towards the fence out back of the fourth grade.  You can still pick these up after a heavy rain.

     

    The first year, we had a very severe snow storm on the Wednesday night before Thanksgiving.  Though the District tried to get the buses here early, the last one arrived at 8:30 in the evening.  As it tried to make it back to the paved road (Sulphur Spring), it slipped off the gravel road (Tumulty) into the ditch.  The children walked back to school and their parents had to come get them.


    The 1970’s offered many opportunities for Sorrento Springs to celebrate.  One of the big ones was the 1776-1976 Bi-Centennial Celebration.  The theme was the St. Louis World’s Fair, and we sure did it up “right.”  We had iced tea, hot dogs, and ice cream cones…all invented at the 1904 World’s Fair.  We showed the film, Meet Me in St. Louis, the famous musical film, starring Judy Garland, about the 1904 World’s Fair.


    The Bennington Flag was adopted as the official flag for the national celebration.  We have one in the middle of the school.  Our plan is to have every U.S. President serving between 1976-2076 send us a letter to put around the flag’s edge.  So far, we have been successful with all the presidents except President Carter.

     

    During the late 1970’s, it was decided to make grade “pods” instead of having a completely Open Space School.  Walls were put up between the grades and our library.  We also moved the office from the middle of the building to the front…where it is now…and built rooms for the guidance counselor and assistant principal.  You may have noticed, there is no principal’s office as you would find in a traditional school.


    Some of the traditions we started at this time include “The Holiday Boutique.”  This was begun by Mrs. Ruth Hawse who wanted all the money raised to go to computers.  The many computers you find in our computer laboratory came from the community as they raised money through The Holiday Boutique and many other fundraisers.  Only a few of the computers we have were purchased by the district for the students here.  “The Elves Workshop” came about when mothers and fathers saw their children getting a bad example of what the holidays of December were all about by the commercialism in department stores.  The “elves” usually work from July to December to make about 3,000-4,000 items for the children to purchase for their families and friends.


    Sorrento Springs has always had a great partnership with the school and the community.  We remember fondly the fathers building the obstacle course and the students helping the local farmers out with their livestock.


    Parents have been particularly interested in recognizing and rewarding the many fine students we have.  On May Day, the PTO provides ice cream treats for everyone.  We had the “Good Apple” tree in the office for a number of years, and our outstanding students had their names put on bright shiny wooden apples and hung on the tree for all to see.  Another way we recognized excellence ws that the Citizen of the Month, had the entire family photographed and these were kept on file and exhibited.


    Computers and technology continue to be one part of our program we really are proud of having.  Our parents, teachers and students have had many money makers to buy computers.  Most of the computers in our computer lab were purchased by our autumn sales and The Holiday Boutique.


    We can be very proud of our Community School Program, too.  Sorrento Springs School has always had one of the finest programs in the entire Parkway District.  Our summer school programs have been exceptionally fine.  Under the guidance of Mr. Jones, Mrs. Bonzon and Mrs. McClinton, the program has been a profitable one for the District and for the children here at Sorrento Springs.


    Parents and teachers have made certain activities SPECIAL for each grade.  You may remember Circus Day in Kindergarten, Picnic Box Lunch Day in First Grade, many fine dinosaur songs and dances in Second Grade, the Thanksgiving, and programs in Third Grade, Mardi Gras and Fishing Trips in Fourth Grade, Junior Achievement and DARE in Fifth Grade, and School Camp in Sixth Grade.  All of these show how close our parents and teachers work to make a good school.  Of course, you cannot forget the parties around Halloween, the Holidays, and Valentine’s Day.


    Students, too, have many fine accomplishments.  The student council sponsored many food drives.  One year, the sock and mitten donations were linked side by side and they went from the front of the office and library all along the ceiling to the back…on both sides!  The boys and girls in the Math-a-Thon for St. Jude’s have set records year after year.  The Jump-for-Heart has many awards on the walls of the office, as well.


    Of course, we want to mention the Homecoming Parade.  Sorrento Springs has had the First Place winning banner five years in a row.  People look forward to seeing how creative our banner will be each year.


    The 1970’s and the 1980’s went by very quickly.  Many achievement awards have come to our students.  Each year, our students win individual and class awards at the St. Louis Science Fair.  In another contest, one of our students with a disability, who was profoundly hearing impaired, went to the third round of the Spelling Bee at the University of Missouri…even though he could not hear any of the words he was asked to spell.  He had to read lips!


    In the late 1980’s, the school’s staff and the community was moved to take a fresh look at where we wanted to be for the coming decade.  In two retreats to Trout Lodge, plans were laid for a better means of reaching our goals.  From these meetings came our “Sorrento Springs Shines” motto and our “School House” logo.


    Over the years, many of the programs at Sorrento Springs have been important enough that the other schools in the United States have heard of them.  At the National Convention of Elementary School Principals, Sorrento’s work in discipline, special education, parent involvement, children with special needs and programs to improve bus rides have placed speakers from our school on the programs.  “Project Upbeat” has received recognition in magazines and articles as well.


    Probably one of the finest programs we have invented is the “S.S. SORRENTO - Sailing to School Success.”  This program was presented before a national convention in 1993 and has been copied by many other schools.  The teachers and counselors who “invented” S.S. SORRENTO are a bit shy about taking bows for their accomplishments.


    Over the years, our achievement scores have always been very good.  Both individual students and entire classes have set high marks for good solid learning.  After all, that is probably the main purpose of all elementary schools.


    As we get ready for the next century, we will be looking at the many changes coming.  The State of Missouri will require a new program for all schools by the year 2000.  The United States has some very definite plans for the schools in the newly adopted plan called, “America 2000.”  The Parkway School District will change the way grades are grouped next year.  We will have elementary schools of kindergarten through grade five.  Yet, Sorrento Springs has always had a preschool program, and that will probably continue.

     

    The many technological inventions of computers, televisions, VCR’s, and informational networks are sure to make schools of the future much different.


    However, one sure thing will stay in place, Sorrento Springs School will be a school where parents and teachers work together to be sure every student is prepared for the next century…just a few years away….

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    Dr. John Morris was the principal at Sorrento for its first 25 years. Sadly, he became ill during his last year as principal and passed away just as he was retiring. He loved his school and, in return, he was loved by all.