Donor Profile

“The Pryor Wire”: School Installs New Intercom

The audio repairman who’d been patching the school intercom with spare parts, threw up his hands in surrender…nothing more could be done to eliminate the annoying squeaks, squawks, hums and buzz that interfered with the public address system.

“We were trying to use an old intercom system installed in the school prior to 1985,” explained Dorothy Curry, board president. “Replacement parts were no longer available and we were facing a safety issue by not being able to alert all classrooms if an emergency occurred.”

Enter Shirley and Fred Pryor, area philanthropists with a strong interest in education. Shirley is a retired teacher; Fred founded Fred Pryor Seminars. When the Pryors heard of the school’s dire need for a working public address system, they jumped in with an offer to cover the cost of purchase and installation of the communications system. It has been dubbed “The Pryor Wire.”

Chloe, a kindergartner, will be out of a job, but she doesn’t mind. Every morning at the start of the school day, a student chosen by Principal Kajuan Cummings walks the halls tapping the keys of a xylophone, signaling students to be in their classrooms. Hours later, at the end of the school day, he or she repeats the xylophone routine to signal the arrival of the school buses.

Cummings is ecstatic to have a workable communication system enabling her to make announcements without background interference. The day of the system’s inaugural announcement, students will get to hear the true story of how the Pryors made it all possible. And for the rest of the year, The Pryor Wire will officially open the school day with “Good morning, Gordon Parks’ students. . . .”