Brownstone Intermediate to be on Cool Schools

Soon the entire state will know what many in town are well aware of already – Brownstone Intermediate is a cool school.

On Friday, Dec. 2, the Portland landmark will be featured on Ch. 3's popular weekly feature, Cool Schools. The Brownstone segment will run intermittently between 4:30 a.m. and 7 a.m.

Brownstone Principal Laurie Boske nominated her school for the recognition. She figured the fact that Brownstone was named a National Blue Ribbon school recently may just give it a leg up on others vying to be a Cool School.

She was right. Ch. 3 came calling.

“We have just been so excited and so proud of our accomplishments,” Boske said. “I’m really proud of the teachers because that’s why we’re here. We have a great teaching staff and we care a lot about our students, and it has shown.”

Ch. 3’s Mark Dixon, the host of Cool Schools, was at Brownstone for the taping Nov. 16.

The school was tasked with coming up with four filmable topics which highlight what makes Brownstone a special place.

The Captain’s Table was one of the topics selected. To earn a seat at the clothed lunchroom table, students must display good manners and politeness. A fringe benefit of making it to the Captain’s Table is getting to go first through the lunch line.

Boske – the Captain – pointed out the Captain’s Table is meant “to encourage appropriate behavior during lunch.”

Brownstone’s Zumba recess class also was filmed. A Zumba instructor, Boske thought to bring the fitness craze to Brownstone during the brutal winter of 2011, when recess lost some of its luster.

“We had about 50 students down there for the taping,” said Boske. “We had a blast. The kids had a lot of fun with that.”

The fifth grade science department at Brownstone also will appear on Cool Schools. Boske wanted to show the department's modern, as well as its ‘old school,’ side. The latter being students doing hands-on work with equipment scientists have utilized forever.

“Sometimes just the good old fashioned way works as well,” the principal said.

The final segment filmed for Cool Schools was a pep rally to celebrate Brownstone’s Blue Ribbon honor.

“All the students wore blue, including blue hair,” Boske said with a laugh.

Students made posters for the pep rally. The band played. Cheerleaders performed. Also, a group of sixth graders read portions of their essays on the topic of why Brownstone is so cool.

Boskie returned from Washington, D.C., the day before the Cool Schools segment was filmed. She was at the capital to accept Brownstone’s Blue Ribbon award.

Pretty cool.