WHO DONE IT?

WASILLA — One thing the staff and students at Iditarod Elementary School can’t be accused of is not having a clue.

Maybe Mr. Viktor used a stinky gym shoe to commit his crime in Mrs. Jacobson’s room, or perhaps the guilty suspect is Mr. Dearborn, who prefers the irony of using a dictionary in the library to commit dastardly deeds. There’s a mystery at Iditarod, and it’s up to the school’s students and parents to unravel it.

That’s the premise behind Family Mystery Night tonight at the school, which will see parents and students play a live version of the popular board game “Clue.” Some teachers are suspects while others are clue-givers for students and parents who unravel clues hidden in academic problems.

The Frontiersman promised not to reveal the crimes allegedly committed because, until tonight, the students don’t have a clue. What is known, however, is that the crimes are not violent in nature.

“There will be crime scene tape across a door so they’ll know where a crime has been committed,” said Julie Sullivan, Title 1 coordinator for Iditarod.

Family Mystery Night is put on through funding from the Title 1 program and organized by the fifth grade, she said. There are actually two mysteries to be solved, one for the older students and another for the younger.

“Teachers are the suspects, like our nurse and the librarian and the P.E. teacher,” she said. Like the game, families try to determine which suspect committed the crime, with what and where. “It could be the librarian did it with the vomit cleaning machine in the library. A tainted school lunch is also one of the weapons.”

While the event is designed to be fun, it also brings parents into the school and involves families working on academic challenges together, said fifth-grade teacher Jeff Ciminesi.

That involvement “is hugely important,” he said. “It’s a partnership. The more we see teachers and parents together, the better the team is, and the more successful the team is the more successful the outcome.”

Rory Morse also teaches fifth grade at Iditarod and said tonight “gives us the opportunity to assist families in other areas, whether it’s mathematics or reading or whatever. We can give them guidance, tips and tricks to get involved in their children’s academic lives.”

A recent survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, a part of the U.S. Department of Education, show parent involvement has a direct correlation to school achievement. According to the survey, 94 percent of parents who responded reported their students are given homework to complete outside the school. Of those, 85 percent reported there was an adult in the household who made sure homework was being completed.

It’s a winning formula that isn’t hard to figure out, said Kevin Hartman, a first-grade teacher and “suspect” for Family Mystery Night.

“Studies show that schools with high parent involvement have high achievement, and schools with low achievement and disciplinary problems (can) reflect the level of parent involvement,” he said.

For the younger students, instead of putting together clues to link items to the crime, they have to choose a motive, like hunger, greed, a practical joke or jealousy. So it’s possible Hartman did the deed in Mrs. Ralston’s room because he was hungry.

As to what he’s “suspected” of doing, “I can’t tell you right now,” Hartman said. “I think I’ll get caught, though, we have some pretty good readers.”

Contact Greg Johnson at greg.johnson@frontiersman.com or 352-2269.