In the current planning year before Sedona Red Rock High School opens in Sedona, Arizona, principal Rick Lear has scheduled discussion groups with parents, students, and community members on fourteen topics. Each topic was scheduled for three alternative times of day, to maximize participation; and each session ended with the question, “What implications do our views have for the design
When Judy Cunningham was named principal of the new South Lake Middle School in Irvine, California (not far from where she has been principal of Rancho San Joaquin Middle School, a Coalition member), she wrote up a job description for district teachers applying for positions on the school’s certificated team. (“Candidates only needed to walk on water and not get
Eight states have now made charter schools part of their education reform agendas, but the dust has not yet settled as to exactly what that means. In California, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Wisconsin, legislators have authorized independent groups of educators, businesspeople, or parents to create publicly funded alternatives to their local schools- and a recent survey
Does starting from scratch bypass the sticky problems of school change? Those who’ve tried it say they face the same issues older schools do – especially our stubborn inner picture of ‘what school is.’ The sign in front of the school building in a recent New Yorker cartoon reads “THE KNOWLEDGE HUT”-and in small print, beneath, “FORMERLY P.S. 102.” It
A New School Asks Its Community to Join the Team After a series of open discussion groups during its planning year, Sedona Red Rock High School posted the following advertisement to recruit a coordinating committee of students, teachers, parents, and other community members: 20-25 families of eighth- and ninth-grade students 5-10 additional community adults Sedona Red Rock High School staff