By Rita McInerney

A bright yellow ceramic jar with a “smiley face” decorates the windowsill in Sister Jean Liston’s cheerful office at Christ the King School. During the school year it is filled with candies or cookies for the youngsters who stop by for commendation or comforting.

Also occupying a prominent place on the windowsill is a statue of Blessed Marguerite d’Youville, foundress of the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, the order Sister Jean has belonged to for 28 years. Watercolor still lifes painted by school artists dominate the light walls. The round table and chairs are of blond wood, a chair and sofa upholstered in a mauve fabric. This principal’s domain has no connection with the austere dark wood and linoleum-floored offices from which principals of memory summoned the class cutup or truant.

This is an atmosphere that speaks of confidence and caring, appropriate for a school just named one of six Georgia and 270 nationwide that are National Middle and Elementary Schools of Excellence. Deservedly the honor has come to a school where the philosophy of education centers on the importance of each child in a warm, loving environment. Sister Jean, Christ the King principal for the past 10 years, was notified of the selection on June 30, the same day that the U.S. Secretary of Education made public the list of honored schools. The next day she traveled north to the motherhouse of the Grey Nuns in Yardley, Pa., for a retreat. She returned to Atlanta on July 7 and has been receiving phone calls and letters of congratulations ever since.

Her dedication to giving each child the best Catholic education, her pride in the dedicated teaching staff and her rapport with students, faculty and parents are important reasons for the school’s success.

To her “every child is important, every child can take delight in learning and every child can succeed. We try to treat each child that way and have met with success. As a Catholic school, our most valuable contribution to the church is to help develop responsible citizens who can become leaders in the church. We try and give them a strong social justice background so they can make decisions according to Gospel values.”

Sister Jean looks for teachers committed to maintaining such an environment and to inculcating Christian values into every subject taught at Christ the King. The teachers are constantly seeking ways to improve themselves and the school. Parents are encouraged to share their talents through involvement on various committees. This partnership of parents and teachers enhances the strong faith community centered around the children.

Faculty members meet every Wednesday afternoon and one day a month. Committees focus on motivation of students, guidance, school and family communications, ethnic awareness, religious spirit, math, science and social studies among others. Along with the regular curriculum, teachers instruct in computers, from the first grade; Spanish, beginning with third grade; typing; advanced classes in reading and writing. Philosophy for children is offered in the fifth grade with some material introduced in the second and third grades. There are two kindergarten classes and a pre-first grade along with the eight grades. An after-school program, run by two mothers, is available for kindergarten through fifth grade children whose parents work.

“I was so pleased as a parent about the school that when I decided to go back to work I wanted to teach here,” says Kay Guinn, first grade teacher for five years. “After my first year of teaching here I found it was affecting the way I was parenting.” Two of her three daughters are Christ the King students.

“The teachers here care so much about the kids. I feel good about teaching here. I feel good about talking to parents about the school. We do everything in a positive way, including discipline,” she adds. “She (Sister Jean) never gives up on a child.

“The teachers were so understanding, you could really relate to them,” say Pinky Mangold, a 1986 graduate who also liked the way that “everyone was friends with everyone else” during her eight years at the school. Susan Stephens, fourth grader, echoed Pinky’s sentiments about how understanding the teachers are and didn’t seem bothered at all that there was a “lot of discipline.”

“We want them to feel affirmed and important,” Sister Jean says of her youngsters. “We try to utilize their talents in shows and musical productions.” They are further affirmed by frequent awards for scholarship and for projects helping others, by recognition via the school loudspeaker and assemblies. Leadership is constantly nurtured through the safety patrol and student council activities.

Their suggestions are sought, sister says. “This year they wanted summer uniforms, navy blue bermudas and white shirts.” They got them and their principal says they looked good in the casual clothes. “It’s important for them to know they have a role in deciding. Usually they have good suggestions,” she adds.

Assistant principal Margo Wolke, who prepared the application submitted to the Schools of Excellence competition, wrote about the “heart” of Christ the King in the final question: “Why your school differs from other good schools?”

This “heart,” she wrote, “teaches love from God will make us stronger…help us grow to be our best selves.”

This “heart” takes many forms: “our principal dressed as the Great Pumpkin on Halloween, bearing award certificates for a hardworking safety patrol, or giving a hug to someone whose mother is late to carpool.”

This “heart” is the people: Faculty members who come early and work late, weekends and evenings, who participate with families in special schoolwide events. Cheerful staff members, parents who volunteer to wash windows, help in the classroom or sick room. Students who pick each other up when they fall on the playground, who work together to create a project, who teach younger students what caring is about.

This “heart” acts in positive ways: Grasps new members to the community and helps them overcome the fear of newness, welcomes another unique individual to the talent pool. Reaches out to the community through service projects which teach students their responsibility to others.

“Each child participates in service to the needy on an ongoing basis,” Sister Jean says. Some of the ways the children found to serve included visits to senior citizens and a Kinderaid concert to raise money for starving children by the kindergarten pupils. First graders visited and wrote letters to senior citizens; second graders “adopted” grandparents at a nursing home, and raised money for world hunger. Third graders write to children in Haiti and raised money to purchase goats to help the nutritional needs of these Haitian children.

Each fourth grader involved in sacramental preparation contributed 10 hours of volunteer service to benefit the parish, family and neighborhood. They raised money for the needy in Atlanta and rural people helped at “The Place” in Cumming, Ga. They participated in the Leukemia Readerama, a school-wide project. The fifth graders continued the special project of help to the African country of Camaroon that the grade has been doing for the past several years. Sixth graders took turns going to the soup kitchen to serve lunch to the homeless, collected food for baskets for the elderly and collected toys for poor families aided by Catholic Social Services.

Seventh graders had responsibility for cooking, serving and cleaning up after a school-sponsored luncheon for senior citizens. Several students worked with the elderly in a nursing home. Eighth graders helped with the senior citizens’ luncheon, and earned money on their own to give to specific charities. They held a spaghetti dinner and gave the proceeds to charity and sponsored a bazaar to aid underdeveloped countries. The student council held a bake sale and raised $250 for supplies for the St. Joseph’s Hospital Mercy Van which ministers to the homeless in Atlanta.

The Grey Nun in the crisp summer suit of pale yellow cotton who is the catalyst in the pursuit of excellence at Christ the King, served six years as principal at St. Rose of Lima School in Buffalo, N.Y., before coming to the Atlanta school. The spirituality and commitment to excellence in education of the Grey Nuns at Immaculate Conception School in her hometown of Lowell, Mass. Inspired her to become a member of the order.

The commitment that she gives to the school is supported by others, especially Monsignor John F. McDonough, administrator at the Cathedral of Christ the King. “When you work in unity, you can be successful. I have experienced that unity in working with Monsignor McDonough,” Sister Jean says.

“The tremendous amount of support from the parents helps to make the school a little more special,” Ann Bailey, co-chairman of the Home and School Association, believes. “Everyone appreciate the teachers and I think the teachers appreciate the additional help from the parents.”

Mrs. Bailey sees the faculty as going “out of the way to create a wholesome, loving environment. Sister Jean really works with the teachers to create this environment where the discovery and enhancement of the unique gifts of each child is of the utmost importance.

A non-Catholic parent, Mrs. Romola Eaton, whose son Chad was a member of this year’s graduating class, considers the school one of the finest in academics in the city and credits Sister Jean with this high standard. She is pleased “with all the teachers, pleased in every way” for all the eight years her son attended Christ the King.

Monsignor McDonough also gives the credit to Sister Jean. “She really is the one responsible for creating a good school. She’s worked hard in developing this program.”

Other schools in Georgia selected were Hebrew Academy of Atlanta, Garden Hills Elementary in Atlanta, Duluth Middle School, Burroughs-Molette Elementary in Brunswick and Southside Elementary in Milledgeville.