Back to School – DADS do a lot at the schools

“We had at least 10 more people than we had last year,” said Tyson Littlejohn, organizer of the event. “There was more kid involvement than last year. It turned out really well.”

They spread mulch, planted flowers and even put together some furniture inside the schools for the PTO.

“We couldn’t have done it without the community,” Tyson said.

Businesses donated truckloads of mulch. Equipment and landscape companies donated the use of equipment to help spread the mulch.

“It was a community effort,” Tyson said.

Equipment on hand included tractors, skid steers and more. Dr. Jason Barnett, superintendent of Guntersville schools, was among the dads making an appearance.

In addition to spreading mulch, the group pressure washed some sidewalks.

“We planted a lot of flowers to liven up the beds,” Tyson said. “At Cherokee, we had some flowers in pots.”

They got done with their work quicker this year than they did last year. The extra manpower and equipment helped with that.

“Last year, it took us until 2:30 or 3:00 to finish up,” Tyson said. “We were done by 1 p.m. this year, a little longer at Cherokee.”

The whole idea is just to spruce up the schools a bit to make them a welcoming environment. Guntersville students return to class on Friday.

Their work at Guntersville Elementary also included painting the Wildcat Wagon and painting the carpool lines.

“We put together the tables for the STEM room, which helped not just the principals, but the PTO, since they’d committed to that project,” Tyson said.

He couldn’t be happier with the way things went.

“I feel very blessed with how everything came off,” he said. “I was hoping for just a few more volunteers and we got ten more. Really, it was a lot of new people. There were only 10 or 15 who also participated last year. We had about 30 new folks who stepped up. It made me happy.”

They’re already planning next year’s event. They expect it to perpetually be set as the Saturday before school starts. And there is the possibility they could add a spring event.

“We had such a good turnout of people and people were talking about doing something in the spring,” Tyson said. “So we might try to do it twice a year.”

The high school was not included this year since it is essentially a construction zone. But they are already talking about how it will be incorporated once the new school is built.

“We want to get some of the school clubs and organizations on board once the high school is built back,” Tyson said. “It would allow their clubs to get some service hours and also really allow the students to take ownership of the new school.”

He “gave a shout-out” to all the businesses that donated materials and equipment.

“It was just such an outpouring,” he said. “You ask and you never know what the response will be, but we were overwhelmed.”