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Local News

Monday, March 15, 2010

School days start in Findlay for adopted Haitian siblings
By DENISE GRANT

Staff Writer

So far, chicken nuggets, pizza and the school bus are the most exciting part of the school day for Wally, Steve and Lily, the Haitian siblings adopted by Mark and Kim Kintner of Findlay.

The children have been at home for about a month, but just started school last week at Whittier Elementary. Lily, 8, the oldest, is in second grade. Steve is in first grade, and Wally is in kindergarten.

Kim Kintner has worked as an administrative assistant for both Bowling Green State University and the University of Toledo, organizing mission trips to Haiti for the past nine years. She said the children, who speak Creole, have had very little formal education.

"I really thought that I would home school them, but then I learned more about what they do here at Whittier, and I decided to try it," she said. "I can remember thinking on their very first day, 'Oh no, what are they going to do? They can't speak a word of English.'"

The thought brought Kintner to tears. She is a new mom, with a fourth adopted Haitian child, Rose, 4, still at home.

"But they all came home from school happy. I made the right decision," she said. "Every day they come home and they have learned something more. ...Sometimes it is just the little things."

Like Wally is eating more neatly these days, and all the children are catching on fast to using the computer, she said.

"But they were used to their school day being much shorter (in Haiti). They would go to school for a little while in the morning and then go back to the orphanage, eat and take a nap. Now the school day is much longer, so that's different for them," Kintner said.

The Kintners were already in the process of adopting the four children from an orphanage in Haiti when the earthquake hit in January. The children's birth parents are dead, and an older sister could no longer care for them.

Kim Kintner was in Haiti during the earthquake, in the town of Port de Paix, and helped care for the children in the aftermath as orphanage workers left to help their families.

By far, the most exciting part of the Findlay school day for the children has been the school bus, laughs Kintner. They like riding the bus. They even like just watching the buses.

For now, and most likely through the remainder of this school year, their education will be mostly just learning about their new school, home, family, culture and routine.

It is a big list for such young children, said Linda Siferd, an English as a second language teacher for Whittier. The school has about 26 children who don't speak English as a first language.

In her 19 years of teaching children to speak English, she said the Kintner children by far have the most "culture shock."

"All of the children we have worked with come with their families, so they have that security. These children are adjusting to a new family, too," she said.

With the Kintners adopting all three school-age siblings, they did come with each other, and that's a comfort. Siferd works with them, all together, at the end of the school day so they can unwind, talk and play with each other.

"They are tired and stressed by the end of the school day. It gives them a good break," she said.

The English lessons are for the school necessities: "line up," "raise your hand," "sit," etc. It is a very practical start, but Siferd said all non-English speakers start with the necessities and then work to build vocabulary.

Volunteers have agreed to work with the children, too, giving them extra help with English during the school week.

At home, the Kintners have made it a game: raise your hand, and get an M&M.

"It works," said Kim Kintner. "They are eager to learn."

Grant: 419-427-8412,

Send an e-mail to Denise Grant


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After fighting a house fire early Monday at 815 Howard St., firefighters found 20 marijuana plants in the residence.

"They ran across it and called us," said police Sgt. Justin Hendren with the Hancock County METRICH Drug Enforcement Unit.

Police seized all 20 plants, and Hendren said charges are pending.

High-powered growing lights, fans, and a box filled with dried marijuana were also found in the house, according to a police report.

Investigators said an electrical short started the fire before 3 a.m. Monday.

The blaze caused an estimated $12,000 in damage to the residence, owned by Amanda Crawford. No one was injured, according to the Findlay Fire Department.

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Fletcher began his patrol career in 2002 after graduating from the 139th Academy class and has been assigned to the Findlay post since.

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