The alpha beta gammas of learning

Athenian Academy grows as more people embrace the approach that blends English with Greek.

By KELLY RYAN GILMER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published April 20, 2002

DUNEDIN -- First-graders Berlyn Keith and Dimitra Dimopoulos stood in the lunchroom at Athenian Academy on a Monday morning, facing 50 students holding their hands over their hearts. Dimitra held an American flag, Berlyn a Greek one.

On cue, the kindergarteners, first-graders and second-graders recited the Pledge of Allegiance and sang the national anthem. Then they belted out the national anthem of Greece.

In Greek.

Last year, the fledgling charter school rarely hit such high notes.

The community didn't understand Athenian Academy's program, in which students learn half the day in English and half the day in Greek. The staff turned over. Students left in droves: 40 started in August, but 20 were left when school ended.

Now the school has found some stability and, more important, more students. The school has 51 students. Already, 12 more are registered for next year. The goal: 75.

Saying the program was so different it was "scary," Penelope Veloudos removed her older son last year. She enrolled him in his neighborhood public school, which was much bigger and offered nothing special. Now, both sons attend the academy.

"It's a family feeling," said Veloudos, president of the parent teacher organization. "As a parent, being involved is a lot more fun. You know every student. You know every parent."

And her sons are excelling academically.

"My (older) son is starting to pick out Greek words in English, words like 'atmosphere,' which is fun because it's like a word hunt," Veloudos said.

Charters are operated by private groups but receive public money. They are overseen by school boards, which can close charters that don't honor their contracts, which include being financially sound.

Doug Forth, the school district's budget director, thinks the academy needs 85 pupils to be financial stable.

Melanie Fernandez, the school's principal, says she's confident she can make it work next year with 75 students -- even though grant money will vanish. Last year with only 20 pupils, a $60,000 grant and community donations helped the academy stay in the black.

Despite Forth's predictions, Fernandez expects to break even this year, too. The school has a $90,000 grant, plus about $14,000 parents raised from selling baked goods and school journals.

Parents donate in other ways. They chaperone field trips and planted a vegetable and flower garden. They bring in fruit and ice pops as treats. They seek donations from businesses such as Wal-Mart.

"We chose this school because we feel it's a unique learning opportunity," said Lori Dugan, vice president of the parent teacher group. Her son Matthew is in first-grade.

After last year's dismal numbers, the school sought permission to offer Spanish. Only five students were interested, so that has not been offered.

With no Spanish, the school can concentrate on Greece -- its language, culture and history. Local Greek restaurants adopted a classroom. The Greek Embassy donated books written to teach Greek outside Greece. The math and science textbooks are the same ones used in Greek public schools.

The four teachers meet every day to coordinate their lessons. The English teachers reinforce the science and math topics taught in Greek, but they concentrate on reading and writing.

Eleftheria Gerakiou, who taught for 30 years in Greek public schools before coming to Athenian this year, first doubted that the program could work. Now, she is awed by the sentences her students can write and the vocabulary they've learned.

"It sharpens their minds," she said. "They see a different way of thinking and practicing."

Kindergartener Jerry Madalvanos said he likes learning in both languages. He is learning lots of new words, he says.

"I speak Greek for fun," Jerry said. "It makes me feel like I can read."

"We use a lot of body language, pictures, songs," said Greek teacher Maria Gourgouliatou, whose room is decorated with a Greek map and the Greek alphabet. "It's like their parents sent them to Greece."

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