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49 °F Forecast | Road Cams Tuesday, March 22, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 20, 2005 Students help reshape schools They join Medford effort in planning transformation to smaller high schools By ANITA BURKE Mail Tribune For the past year, South Medford senior Sabrina Johnson has passively watched the beginning of a profound transformation at South that will make it an entirely different experience when her younger siblings walk its halls. This week, she joined in the effort. Thanks to a grant funded by the Meyer Memorial Trust and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Medford’s two high schools each will become a group of five distinct schools by fall 2007. Each small school will have just 400 students, a commitment to rigorous preparation for life after high school and a strong connection between students and teachers. Johnson is part of South Medford’s "Dream Team," which will help shape how the traditional high school will make the shift. "You can leave a legacy," said English teacher Dee Chadwell, who is leading the student group. "You can affect education for years to come." Advertisement Johnson would like to see an academy for freshmen, or even eighth-graders, to help prepare them for the more focused, more rigorous schools that the small-schools initiative calls for. She wants students to have a chance to share their work with peers, to volunteer in the community and to do more things like senior projects. After watching videos from other small-school programs, she liked a career-prep program in Texas that put high school students to work assisting in elementary classrooms and offered graduates a job teaching in the district after they complete college. "It’s important to me," Johnson said of the changes that will create new schools. "I know my brother and sister will go through it." In a brainstorming session this week, the "Dream Team" envisioned a fine-arts school, a school of philosophy, schools focused on communications, engineering and manufacturing, political science, small business, community service and health sciences. They imagined schools that included their favorite learning experiences: college prep challenges, projects instead of boring tests to evaluate their progress, and hands-on experiences off campus. The schools would include the things they like about the high school experience — a chance to see friends, the ability to meet with teachers for help, opportunities for all kids to participate in schoolwide clubs, sports, band, theater productions and activities. Teddy Varner, 15, found the outpouring of ideas exciting. A freshman, he will attend one of the small schools before he graduates, and he was initially worried that the change would disrupt his school career. As ideas were swapped and choices explored, he began to feel more confident about the pending transformation. "I think it might work better than this current way does," he said. "We need to start slowly; otherwise it’s just too confusing." Sophomore Nick Golden hadn’t found the answers he was looking for, but he wanted to stay involved in the process. "I’m a little skeptical," the 16-year-old said. He questioned whether a time of tight budgets was right to develop new schools and wondered whether the student-centered approach would meet tough accountability standards and prepare kids for life after high school. Chadwell said some teachers initially expressed similar concerns, but as they learned more, most now like the idea of small schools and are getting caught up in the planning. "We have to change how we do school," science teacher Steve Jensen said. "This is a sea-change, not just tweaking the system. Teachers are getting enthused." Chadwell said brainstorming groups of parents and community members are forming, too. Ideas from all the groups will be weighed during the planning process. Reach reporter Anita Burke at 776-4485, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. 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