Principal Anthony Love on Transforming Lives at Linda Tutte High School: Education, Community Support, and a Groundbreaking Grocery Store Program

Wondering how a school can become a lifeline for a community? Listen as we engage in a heartwarming discussion with Principal Anthony Love of Linda Tutte High School in Sanger, Texas. This alternative school isn't your run-of-the-mill institution, it's a beacon of support for its students and the local community. With unique programs like the Choice Program for at-risk students, the 18+ Program for post-high schoolers, and the Discipline Program for guidance, Linda Tutte extends far beyond just academics. The real highlight though is the Linda Tutte Grocery Store, an innovative initiative developed to not only address mental health but to also combat food insecurities.

The story of the grocery store program's inception, borne out of a casual conversation with a parent, is as inspiring as it is remarkable. The program now serves as a much-needed resource for many students and the community, especially amidst the challenges of COVID. Hear how the school manages the unique challenges of having a mobile student population and the strides they've made in their mission to prepare students to be active participants in their community. Feel the ripple effect as Texas Health Resources, which initially funded the grocery store program, extends the initiative to 10 more schools in North Texas. So, join us in this enlightening journey as we explore how Linda Tutte High School, under the leadership of Principal Love, has transformed lives through education and community initiatives.

You have been listening to The 266 Express, the official podcast of Sanger, TX. IF you have comments or suggestions, please send them to dgreen@sangertexas.org

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:07

Good afternoon, morning, evening, wherever you're at listening to us this this fine day. Welcome to the 266 Express, the official podcast of Sanger Texas. I'm here. I'm John Noblett, here with my co-host, donna Green. Donna, who do we have with us today?

Speaker 2: 0:23

You have with us Anthony Love, principal of the Linda Tutte High School.

Speaker 3: 0:27

Hi, thank you guys for having me.

Speaker 1: 0:30

Thank you for being here. Absolutely, tell us a little bit about Linda Tutte High School.

Speaker 3: 0:36

All right. So Linda Tutte High School it's an alternative school here in Sanger. It's one of the seven schools we have six different programs in the building, so I'll tell you a little bit about all of them. So we have a choice program, which is your high school students who are at risk of dropping out or not going to graduate when they're supposed to. So a lot of our students they come to us. Either maybe they're behind on credits or certain situations in life have happened and they just want to get done with school so that they can move on to the next phase in their life. So we have that program. And then we have an 18 plus program. So these are your traditional life skill type students that have completed their four years of high school but are just not ready for the next step in their life, whether that's going into the work program or going into maybe a day have type program. So we do have a class for that. We also we do have the DAP. So it's the discipline program where students, if they make a goofy decision, they come to us for a certain number of days and then we send them back to their own campus.

Speaker 3: 1:55

And then we have three programs that are in our special ed side of the building, which is the Denton County special ed co-op. So we have students, and it is a kindergarten through 12th grade. So it's students that come from from Ponder, crom, sanger, pilot Point and Aubrey, and these are students that have emotional disturbances or some type of behavior disorder. So there are three programs that are kind of mixed in there. With that and with all of those students. Our goal is, within one or two school years, to be able to teach them coping skills and strategies, that it's okay to be mad, sad and angry. It's just how do you express that appropriately so that they can be successful in their education, in their educational program back at their home campus?

Speaker 1: 2:44

Oh, it's fantastic. Now, how long have you been with the Sanger IST?

Speaker 3: 2:50

So this is my eighth year. I was three years the assistant principal at Linda Tutte High School and this is my fifth year as principal.

Speaker 1: 2:59

Yeah, that sounds like a big job. You know, sometimes we forget that with all the things that happen day to day, we forget the emphasis that our school district puts on our children and their desire to see them succeed at all levels. So I'm very appreciative of the programs that you guys have and what you do for the community.

Speaker 3: 3:24

Thank you.

Speaker 2: 3:26

So the school made national news not too long ago with the I guess it's the Linda Tut program. Is that what it is?

Speaker 3: 3:36

Yes, the Linda Tut grocery store. Okay.

Speaker 2: 3:39

And tell us about that.

Speaker 3: 3:41

All right. So it started. I guess it started about three years ago. We were fortunate enough to receive a grant with Texas Health Resources and it was to the school district and so it was focusing on resiliency, building resiliency with our youth, so really focusing on mental health with our school-age students, and so a part of that grant was the grocery store and it was actually a very small part of the grant. So you know, it was kind of funny.

Speaker 3: 4:23

It was actually the first year that I was principal at Linda Tut High School and I still remember it was Dr Anne Hughes and Paul Juarez. At the time he was with First Refuge Ministries and we had a meeting. I don't recall what the meeting was about, but I remember the next part. I was out in the hallway and we were kind of walking towards the front office. We just finished talking about whatever we were talking about and they asked me what do you think about putting a grocery store in your school? And so it kind of caught me off guard, because it's not a normal question, you know, it's not one that you really think about as a principal. Because, you know, my first year I'm thinking about all my teachers, all my staff, making sure that everybody's, you know, in the right positions, make sure we have the curriculum, our computers, you know, really just getting ready for school to get started, and you know I get hit with this question, and so it didn't take long for me to figure out and to think about all of my students that I've seen in the past that have struggled with food insecurities. And we have a program in Sanger with the Friday Backpack Program, and so that's, you know, students that are that may have a need for a little assistance with food, and so they get help over the weekends, and so I have a lot of students that will turn that away because of you know they're embarrassed or something along those lines, and so they would turn the food away that I knew that they needed, because when they're at school with us, I know they're getting breakfast and I know they're getting lunch. But over the weekends, you know, I'm a little worried. Over the weekends, maybe holidays, long breaks and so I said yes to the grocery store. I didn't know who was going to run it, I didn't know where it was going to go, I had no idea how it was going to work, but I knew it was going to be good for our kids. So that was at the beginning of the 2019-2020 school year, and so, as we were getting the program going, I think our last meeting was in February, right before, you know, the famous spring break. That lasted forever, and so COVID put it on hold, but we were able to start the program at the beginning of the 2020 school year and so it was fantastic.

Speaker 3: 7:08

Our students that started with the grocery store. They built the shelves themselves, they put the shelves together with some guidance from Paul Juarez, because he had a background in the grocery business. And so, you know, the students they are part of every piece of it because it is 100% voluntary, because it's kind of one of those things that if you make students or you require them to do something, it's not always that fun, and so, with it being voluntary, they really have taken pride in it because it's theirs, it belongs to them. You know I'm there Some of our staff is also there just to help, guide or answer questions, but it's really it's reigned by our students, and so I still remember it was the first news interview that came.

Speaker 3: 8:10

It was I think it was a local, I think it was CBS 11, I believe out of Dallas, and so I really I thought that was cool because you know I'm thinking to myself, well, hey, maybe there'll be some schools around here, maybe somebody will see it, you know, and I just thought that would be, you know, just fantastic.

Speaker 3: 8:29

But it was. I think it was the day that that aired. It was probably the next day, and for the next three to four months I was probably talking to a new station, a school, a school board member, a radio station anywhere across the United States or the Canada, uk, I think somebody from Australia had reached out to us. There was a guy from an island, I think, in the Caribbean, that had reached out. I think they had been hit by a hurricane and so they were trying to just do anything to help their community. And so it has definitely been, you know, a fun ride, and it almost felt like I had a second job on top of you know, still trying to, you know, run a school and everything that comes along with that.

Speaker 3: 9:27

So, yeah, it was a little wild.

Speaker 1: 9:32

That's you know. And when you say it's run by the students, it's interesting right To me, because you have students that manage the store, students that stock the store, students that bag. How does outside that number one? We, as you said, it's voluntary, but how are students selected? And then a little deeper into how does the program work? Who has access to the grocery store?

Speaker 3: 9:57

Okay.

Speaker 3: 9:58

So when it started, I asked, invited a couple of students that I knew that I had worked with and been around a lot and just had a huge heart and just really loved, you know, helping people. And so those, those three students, started out as our store managers. Because we started out very small because, again, this was not a program that I could reach out and call somebody else, because it was really the first of its kind, and so we were trying, we were really building the airplane as we were flying it. And so I started out with three store managers and they, you're right, they help with inventory, they help with stocking the shelves, they help with purchase orders, they help when we're open to the community on Tuesdays, and and so when, when it started, some of the other students started seeing what was going on, and they, they were a little interested, you know, just asking questions. Hey, you know where are they going? Why do they get to do that? And so, as we've grown and got the program going, we really because we saw that students were taking an interest in it and so we were trying to use that as a learning opportunity. So we developed a almost an interview type process where students had to, they had to have references, they had to be passing and making good grades and those type things to be a part of it, and so that's kind of how it started. And then, as students graduate, some of our other, our store helpers, so probably in total we probably have nine hundred and thirty-four years left left to form a business.

Speaker 3: 11:46

So, ever since the World, five or six students that are a part of the grocery store, and so as students graduate, then other students kind of move up in that the store manager type role. But as far as how it works, there is no requirement, there's no, we don't ask questions. If you come to the grocery store we're gonna help you out, and so it is open every Tuesday from six to seven PM at Linda Tutte High School. You know, and we have tried some different things. As far as you know, how do you, how do you, how do you get choice in the groceries? And really, so when we started, because of COVID, visitors weren't allowed into the building, and so we have our volunteers.

Speaker 3: 12:38

So we have a lot of student volunteers on Tuesdays and we also have additional Sanger ISD staff that come out and volunteer, and I'm always there, and so we you know, starting it was our volunteers would go through the aisles and they would pick just various items just from each aisle and then they would bag up the groceries and then we take them out to the vehicles, and so we've probably averaged about 25-ish, 25, 30 families every Tuesday, and sometimes it increases.

Speaker 3: 13:17

Sometimes we don't have as many, but we are. You know, recently we've reached out to the Tarrant County Food Bank because they have a really cool mobile food pantry that has milk and has meats and it has produce that if you reach out, because we gotta give them, I think, a two week notice but they'll come out and it's again. There's really no qualifications, you know. I think they may ask a couple more questions than we do, because the only thing we ask is your name, how many people that are in your family, and that's about it, and so if families come to us on Tuesdays, we're always happy to help.

Speaker 2: 14:08

That's fantastic. Yes, that's amazing, wow. So what about during the summertime? Is it open in the summertime when the kids are out of school?

Speaker 3: 14:18

Yes, so we are open year round. I think we've only closed. I could probably count on one hand how many times we have closed in the past three years. You know, if we have closed it's because of we have closed before for a community event. It may have been like the back to school fair, so we've closed a couple of times for that or maybe for ICE. You know that type thing If school is closed and the roads are not safe. But yeah, we're open pretty much year round to help anybody.

Speaker 1: 15:02

So, anthony, do you guys take donations for the store and, if so, how would people go about that?

Speaker 3: 15:08

Okay, yes, absolutely. So. The purpose of the store is it was designed to run off of partnerships within the community. So we have been fortunate to have businesses local businesses actually have food drives and donate food to our store. So I mean we've had real estate companies do food drives and bring that to us. We've had the local dentist, some local churches, the school district, some of the schools especially with Thanksgiving coming up, they've done different type food drives.

Speaker 3: 15:49

But really that is that's the whole design behind the grocery store is really building partnerships with that. So if anybody wants to donate, you are more than welcome to call up to the school or just come by on a Tuesday evening and come and ask us questions and we'll absolutely we'll partner with you. And just as we have the local businesses, we also have partnerships with some local people in the community. There's a gentleman that has a little garden that he has donated cucumbers, squash, zucchini, okra, some fresh vegetables. We've had a few local farmers with chickens so they've donated eggs. So I've actually learned a whole lot about eggs that I never thought about before. But you know, that's really the design of the store is really getting the community involved.

Speaker 1: 16:54

And, as you said, you have more than just the store program. Can you think of any with the store, any of your other programs? Do you have any immediate needs that you can think of that the community might be able to help you guys with?

Speaker 3: 17:09

You know the challenging, one of the challenging parts of our school is that our student population is very mobile. So in our choice program students are working at their own pace. So I guess you know the really neat thing is because it's on the computer, working at their own pace, and so when they're done with their classes, they're done, they can walk out the door and they're a graduate. You know we can print off their transcript, you know, and really that is, if they're going to college or they're going if it's for a work reason, they can take that with them. We do have one graduation at the end of the school year and then in our in the other programs as well, you know when they are successful, either they are graduating or they're returning back to their home campus.

Speaker 3: 18:01

So that's kind of a challenge that we have as far as families really being a part of the school because it is so mobile. You know the students are in and out and they're with us and they're not with us very long. And so you know we can always use more partnerships with the grocery store. You know there's different things that we can do there. Have you know, we're extremely grateful for all the donations that we do receive, but we could also do maybe targeted food drives, maybe if there was somebody that wanted to donate. You know, we have a peanut butter and jelly aisle and so maybe if there was a food drive and you just focused on maybe peanut butter and jelly or some fruits, any of those type things, like we also have pasta aisle, we have our canned goods, we have cereal aisle, and so there's just different ways that you know community members can get involved and so, yes, we are open to any partnerships, because really that's what it's about. It's really about the community getting involved with the school.

Speaker 2: 19:19

Wonderful. Well, I thank you for the programs that you're doing. It's wonderful and it's amazing how one small thing, one small conversation that you had, that you were not expecting, really caused a ripple effect, not just locally, but you know you're helping. The idea is helping people nationwide for sure, and that's awesome. Good job.

Speaker 3: 19:43

I think one of the most exciting things is you know when you start a program you know you really want it to be successful for your group that you're focused on. You know our focus was the students and the community of Sanger. But we've had other schools replicate our grocery store program. So Delay Middle School in Lewisville they have a grocery store in their school. It's definitely a different population because at Lundestadt High School we probably have 70-ish, 70-80 students and they have about 1,000. And so that's definitely you know you got to have some different strategies about that and so they target, you know, specific groups that have really high needs.

Speaker 3: 20:31

We've also had these ODY at high school in Fort Worth has started or an open to grocery store. Tarrow Middle School has opened a grocery store and so, working with Texas Health, their goal was to raise over $2 million to replicate this program in 10 other schools in the local North Texas area that really need it. So that's definitely neat, you know to be a part of the first grocery store but it's you know it's kind of special when other schools want to follow what you do. So it's definitely it's been inspiring and you know to us that we're able to help a lot of community members and really to teach the kids what it means to give back to your community, because I know, you know, our students are not going to stay in Sanger forever. So my hope is just, wherever they go, that they remember what we've done and they're able to give back into their community wherever they go.

Speaker 1: 21:38

Yeah, anthony, that's fantastic and it's. I think it's so appropriate that you're here in November for our podcast, because it's a month that we typically sit around the table and give thanks and sometimes, again, we forget that sometimes, when an opportunity presents itself to be kind or be thankful or be gracious or reach out and help somebody, we're not prepared to take that opportunity. But it sounds like you guys were prepared to take that opportunity and it's it's your reaping magnificent benefits, not just by shaping the mind of the students but the character of those young men and women as they step out in the world. So I, for one, am thankful for that on behalf of our community, and we really appreciate you guys.

Speaker 2: 22:20

Yes, thank you.

Speaker 1: 22:21

Thank you, and you've been listening to the 266 Express. I'm John Knoppel.

Speaker 2: 22:27

Donna Green.

Speaker 1: 22:28

And thank you so much for listening into what's going on in our small little North Texas town.