Our New School

So... a lot is happening (and school hasn't even started yet) and I feel the need to communicate what is going on at my school. Handily enough, I worked with a few fellow staff members this morning to develop our talking points about what we are doing, so I am ultra-prepared to draft this here blog post.

I currently work at a small alternative high school that primarily serves at-risk high school students. For those of you who don't speak in educational jargon , "at-risk" mainly means that these are students who have fallen behind their graduating class in credit earnings. I need to backtrack already to say that not all of our students fall into this category, but most do. Further, the reasons as to why our students are at-risk vary widely. Over the years that our school has been in operation, an immeasurable amount of good has been done in the lives of the children that came through our doors. It is with bittersweet sentiment that I will tell you that this school year (2011-12) will be the last year of our school.

The staff at our school are mostly of the workaholic creative type. We have done some amazing things in our classrooms as they are, but there are so many things (schedule, traditional assessments, school policies, etc.) that stifle us from doing our best work with students. It is this (and some other things that are not as interesting to write about) that has led us to the need for a new charter school.

Our new school (name to be determined) will be a community- and project- based, interest-driven, participatory cooperative school. There is some jargon for you. I won't give you our talking points yet, as they are still being tweaked, but I will be sure to elaborate on the above words/phrases soon. What I find so amazing right now and want to share with you is that my staff and I get to start a new school. I have only been teaching for six years, but I imagine that teachers work their whole lives wishing that they could change the system and build a school around what is really important - we get to do this. I don't have words for how this feels (which is inconvenient as this is a blog) but any of you who have ever wished education were different, and I imagine this is a lot of you, can appreciate the gravity of the moment.

In personal news, I have taken on a leadership role on our steering committee. This means that I will be letting go of two classes and using that time (and probably a lot more time) to work on the new school. I can't tell you how excited I am about this. For example, tonight I am writing this at 7:33 PM; I would ordinarily be sitting on the couch and watching What Not to Wear, but I just got a new book about writing workshop and I am itching to get back to it. Honestly, I feel so lucky to have been given this time read, learn, and grow and apply all of what I come up with to the new school. I have moments of panic: I don't know how to start a new school! But I trust that I am not doing it alone and we will all figure it out along the way.

As I write this, I hear the tune of an ice cream truck traveling through my neighborhood. This is such a sound of summer to me. Lest I be fooled, school is starting and for me, starting in a new and exciting way that it never has before.