Red Bank Charter School Highlights Issues of the World

By Judy O’Gorman Alvarez
RED BANK – Red Bank Charter School once again transformed its classrooms into miniature countries for International Day on Oct. 22. Students in the preK -8^th grade public school, dressed in costume, told the stories – the customs and the hardships – of those homelands.
Parents, community members and dignities traveled from classroom to classroom – or country to country – with students dutifully stamping passports like veteran customs agents.
Countries on the itinerary – Brazil, Lesotho, Cuba, Uganda, Egypt, Chad, Thailand, People’s Republic of Congo – were outfitted with flags, decorations and music. Ethnic dishes popular in those countries were prepared by parents and served by students.
For weeks, the students researched countries, learning about government, education, economy, culture, politics, cuisines and geography. But folk songs and gross national products were not the only topics illustrated during International Day.

Students chose the scenarios to depict and included skits highlighting issues that face the people of those countries, such as poverty, war and the global water crisis.
In well-rehearsed skits 8^th graders told of the dangers of living in war-torn Democratic Republic of Congo, and 2nd graders about the need for clean drinking water in Lesotho.
Cristie Ritz-King, a parent of three children in the school, says she worried that some issues would be too serious or disturbing for her son Griffith, now a third grader, to learn about. “But not at all,” she said. “He will bring home issues like poverty and water shortages – especially water – to talk about.”
The importance of clean drinking water was illustrated throughout several of the demonstrations. “You can see, the threads are global,” said Meredith Pennotti, RBCS principal. The students “can contrast and compare” situations between their own lives and those of children on the other side of the world.
“Every International Day, we prepare our young learners for a rich understanding of the complex world in which we all live,” said Pennotti.