Sometimes change is as simple as this: Several middle school students, their teacher and a volunteer planted flowers and shrubs two weeks ago at Derita Alternative School.
You can see their work as you drive by the school at Sugar Creek and Rumple roads -- white begonias and purple petunias beneath the school flag pole and a blue and white sign that proclaims, "Good Character: Learn It. Live It."
It is a modest garden, but an important one.
The plants signal a rebirth of community involvement at Derita School after nearly a decade of none. Students are most likely to succeed, educators say, when the community supports them.
Derita School had strong support for well over a century.
A few graduates of Derita High School still live nearby. Many adults, such as Thomas Templeton, president of the Royal Oaks Neighborhood Association, attended the elementary school and mourned its closing in the late 1990s.
Derita children now attend other schools, such as Mallard Creek Elementary.
As bad as that loss was, Templeton, community leader Bernie Samonds and others were outraged when Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools reopened the building as an alternative school for students expelled from other schools.
They charged that CMS broke promises to limit the enrollment and return students to their home schools within a year. They complained that students walked away from campus and broke into nearby homes.
They demanded that CMS even drop the name Derita, since this was no longer Derita's school.
"They've found a place to warehouse students they don't want to deal with, and like so many things, if they don't want a place for it, they say `Dump it on Derita,' " Samonds, president of the Derita-Statesville Road Community Organization, said in a TV interview in late April shortly before new principal Valoria Burch held a community meeting at the school.
That meeting drew about 30 people, including Samonds.
Burch has more than a decade of experience leading alternative schools and impressed the audience with her firm approach, her understanding of their concerns, and confidence that she can make Derita School better for the kids and the community -- if neighbors are willing to help, too.
"I want to develop a program that is successful for students and that all the community will benefit from," she told the audience. "The only way to do that is through a partnership with you."
Derita Presbyterian Church, next door to the school, has begun that partnership -- such as providing meals for the recent teacher appreciation luncheon.
And then there is the garden -- which blossomed because teacher Amy Prior wanted to reward her students and give them a taste of community service.
By the time the kids started digging on May 7, Prior had gotten a small grant, volunteer help from University City Kiwanis President Bob Ward, plants from landscaper Darren Powell, and help from other Derita staff and teachers.
Ward took off a couple of hours from his job as assistant public defender to work with the kids.
"These are some great folks," Ward said.
"A lot of people don't understand these aren't bad kids or bad people. Maybe they made mistakes, but there is a lot good in them and they need good people around them to see themselves in other people's eyes, and to see themselves succeeding."
Powell met Prior and her students last Thursday, when they posed for photos at the garden. Afterward he praised the students' gardening skill, told them how he got into the business, and offered advice on getting a job.
You don't have to be the best, he said. You just have to have the best attitude and do your best.
Burch said she hopes to get many more adults to work with the kids, talk about simple things like winning that first job, and just show that adults do want them to succeed.
Do you have some time to help our kids at Derita School?
How to volunteer at Derita School
The school needs both individuals and groups. Among the needs: tutors, mentors, guest speakers, school supplies, money for school uniforms and food for programs. For details, call volunteer coordinator Kimberly Rice at 980-343-5231. Rich Haag
