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EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — One of the Oregon high schools selected for a prestigious $900,000 grant to break into smaller “learning academies” is having some second thoughts about their plans.
Administrators from North Eugene High School recently visited two Seattle-area high schools that have broken into smaller schools-within-a-school. They came away inspired from the Tacoma School of the Arts, but deflated after a visit to suburban Mountlake Terrace High School.
Meanwhile, back in Eugene, some staff members have voiced growing anxiety about the proposal to do away with North Eugene as they know it. Students, also, have been expressing frustration at not being more involved in the planning.
Based on staff concerns, North Eugene’s “small schools” team decided a few weeks ago to back off original plans to have all four of the small schools up and running for fall 2006.
While that’s still a possibility, now only one school opening is promised. The others might not roll out until fall 2007.
Some at North Eugene want to take an all-staff vote within the next few weeks on whether to scrap the plan altogether and forgo what’s left of the three-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust.
It would be the second up-or-down vote. Last April, on the eve of learning North Eugene was one of eight Oregon schools selected to receive a small-schools grant, 83 percent of staff voted by secret ballot to accept the grant if offered.
Principal Peter Tromba, a small schools proponent, said he is worried that such moves could sabotage a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for North Eugene.
“I really want to stop talking about voting and just go forward,” said Tromba.
But social studies teacher Tad Shannon, who visited the Seattle-area schools, said he’s more inclined to put on the brakes, especially after seeing some of the attempts to convert existing large high schools into learning academies.
“I was not impressed with the conversion school that we saw, and I haven’t heard of very many successful ones,” said Shannon, who voted in favor of accepting the grant last year, despite reservations.
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Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
Administrators from North Eugene High School recently visited two Seattle-area high schools that have broken into smaller schools-within-a-school. They came away inspired from the Tacoma School of the Arts, but deflated after a visit to suburban Mountlake Terrace High School.
Meanwhile, back in Eugene, some staff members have voiced growing anxiety about the proposal to do away with North Eugene as they know it. Students, also, have been expressing frustration at not being more involved in the planning.
Based on staff concerns, North Eugene’s “small schools” team decided a few weeks ago to back off original plans to have all four of the small schools up and running for fall 2006.
While that’s still a possibility, now only one school opening is promised. The others might not roll out until fall 2007.
Some at North Eugene want to take an all-staff vote within the next few weeks on whether to scrap the plan altogether and forgo what’s left of the three-year grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Meyer Memorial Trust.
It would be the second up-or-down vote. Last April, on the eve of learning North Eugene was one of eight Oregon schools selected to receive a small-schools grant, 83 percent of staff voted by secret ballot to accept the grant if offered.
Principal Peter Tromba, a small schools proponent, said he is worried that such moves could sabotage a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for North Eugene.
“I really want to stop talking about voting and just go forward,” said Tromba.
But social studies teacher Tad Shannon, who visited the Seattle-area schools, said he’s more inclined to put on the brakes, especially after seeing some of the attempts to convert existing large high schools into learning academies.
“I was not impressed with the conversion school that we saw, and I haven’t heard of very many successful ones,” said Shannon, who voted in favor of accepting the grant last year, despite reservations.
———
Information from: The Register-Guard, http://www.registerguard.com
