The corporate system had decided that school wasn't that important. And in some research we did we found that for over twenty years, in fact, only a nickel went to that school for refurbishing and remodeling when a dollar was going to other suburban schools. And yet, Maybelle and Elise continued to witness that these young people were important. They did their job very well, thank you, amid cracking plaster and chipped floors they had a building that would sing with its cleanliness. No buses pull up here.
Children are of all classes and of all races, of all groups come here naturally.
They walk to school. I began to think about my strategies and how we would save the school. We started organizing. But the two who taught me the most were Maybelle and Elise. You see, they quietly continued to care for that building but more they cared for the community of people in the building.