A look inside: Murphy Elementary School

W.J. Murphy Elementary School

Address: 220 Greenwood, Round Lake Park

Phone: (847) 270-9950

District's name and Web site: Round Lake Area Schools District 116, www.rlas-116.org

Number of students/grade levels offered: The school holds 665 first- through sixth-grade students.

Number of staff: 50, including 27 teachers

School mascot: The Mustang

When was school built: 1956, with an addition made in the early 1970s

An interesting tidbit: The school is named after William J. Murphy, a legislator who worked to get public bingo legalized in the state of Illinois.

Principal: Jeff Prickett

• He has served as principal for four years.

• What is your favorite memory from Murphy Elementary School? Prickett said it is taking a group of students last year to the Round Lake Beach Cultural and Civic Center to decorate one of the holiday trees prior to the village's Christmas tree lighting. "As principal, I don't get a chance to do a lot of things like that. I interact with students in the hallways, the classrooms and the playground. But as far as taking kids on a field trip, it was a lot of fun," he said.

• What do you think is an unique aspect of your school? He said it is the people and their desire to work together for the students and for achievement. That has been done by inviting students who are named to the honor roll to a special breakfast or hosting family events such as reading night and dances. It brings people to see the school as a neighborhood commodity. "People feel really welcome here," he said. "It is one of the biggest jobs a school has to work on. It is to make the community feel welcome."

• How has technology changed the way students learn over the past five years? Has that been a good change? Technology has changed the way students learn, Prickett said, and it's a good change as long as it's monitored carefully. Among Murphy's offerings are two laptop carts that can be wheeled to classrooms, so students can practice typing or Internet skills. "They have access to so much more information and so much information quickly," he said. "There are no excuses as to why they may not have an assignment completed."

• If you can get one thing accomplished between now and the end of May in your school, what would it be? Prickett said the school-wide goal by the end of each academic year is that by the time students leave third grade they will read at grade level. "In the years to come, our kids are reading to learn," he said. "They can't do that unless they learn to read."