Saturday morning, from 8am to noon, TUSD administrators as well as other district employees and volunteers will gather at Davis Bilingual Elementary Magnet School (500 W. St. Mary's Road, just north of downtown and east of I-10) to bring, in the words of the media release, "some added sparkle to the historic school." Anyone who wants to lend a hand is invited. Wear work clothes. Work gloves and simple garden tools are optional.

Davis is the second site chosen for the Adopt-A-School program. TUSD launched Adopt-A-School in November to bring together district employees, parents and members of the community to take on projects not covered under general maintenance. Holladay Magnet School was the first school to undergo a transformation.

Work at Davis will include painting in hallways, repainting sidewalk games such as hopscotch and sprucing up the school grounds and gardens.

Volunteers don’t need to have experience, just a willingness to help. Bring work gloves and simple garden tools if you would like. TUSD operations staff members will be on hand to guide the work.

TUSD board member Kristel Foster told me the Adopt-A-School concept originated when the roof blew off Van Buskirk Elementary last July, a few days before the beginning of school. District administrators left a scheduled meeting and helped get the school ready for students. The concept was extended to fixing up schools on a regular basis.

"It sparked the administration," according to Foster, speaking about the work at Van Buskirk. "It was such a positive experience. We need to keep doing this, building a community feeling in the district."