“Are you Mayor Mattie Parker?” a student asked the Fort Worth mayor as she entered the Starpoint School atrium.
“Yes, I am! What’s your name?” she replied.
Once the critical introductions were made, Parker joined students at their morning assembly, where another student led the school in saying the Pledge of Allegiance and Texas Pledge before announcing birthdays, upcoming events and the day’s weather. Instead of returning to their classrooms, however, they remained in the atrium to watch the senior class deliver a presentation about the history of the Starpoint School, one of TCU’s two laboratory schools within TCU’s College of Education.
“I get to see a lot of schools as mayor,” Parker said to the gathered students, faculty and staff. “I can tell how a school is doing right when I walk in. You know when you get good vibes or bad vibes? This place has really good vibes.”
After answering students’ questions about her job as mayor of 11th largest city in the country, Parker read them a book she said she often read to her own children, What Do You Do With a Problem? by Kobi Yamada. The book aims to teach children to face their problems head-on rather than avoid them, and to find the opportunity often hidden within. It is a sentiment that echoes the Starpoint School's mission.
“To provide an individualized academic program to help children obtain tools to compensate for their learning difficulties, build on their own strengths, develop a positive attitude about learning and perform to the best of their capabilities in their next educational setting.”
When Parker asked the students what they thought was special about Starpoint, hands flew up all around the room. Answers included love for the class pets, the friendships made with fellow students, and the aid they receive in overcoming their learning difficulties. Or, as one student succinctly put it, “pretty much everything.”
One student mentioned that their favorite part of Starpoint was its fellow Lab School, KinderFrogs. The only school of its kind in Tarrant County, KinderFrogs serves students aged 18 months to 6 years with Down syndrome and other developmental delays, preparing them for future success in school and other community settings.
For the KinderFrogs students, Parker read Goodnight Cowtown by Jennifer Drez and Robin Beal Burnstead. A tribute to Fort Worth and its landmarks, the book includes TCU as the city’s home team. While on that particular page, the mayor led the students in a rousing “Go Frogs!”
At the end of the reading, when students signed “thank you” to Parker, she returned the gesture. She ended her visit by praising the amazing work done by the student, faculty and staff of each school.
This academic year marks the 60th anniversary of Starpoint and 25th anniversary of KinderFrogs.