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D70 Wants Better Way to Engage High School Students

Posted on: Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 09:00 CST

By Gayle Perez, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

Jan. 24--District 70 Superintendent Dan Lere is proposing a new design for school in the future to better engage today's high school students in their education.

"I think we can turn high schools into a place where kids want to be, not where they are forced to be," Lere told the District 70 school board at a recent meeting, during which he unveiled his plan for a potential new structure for the district's high schools.

Lere said with the advances in technology, coupled with the many gadgets and interests that detract students from school, the time has come to change the traditional high school structure.

Lere's plan would be to use the existing comprehensive high school as an education hub. He proposes having "satellite academies" located either on or off the school's campus where specialized areas of instruction would occur. The academies would focus on specialized areas such as fine arts, math and science, health and fitness and technology, to name a few.

For example, Lere said, a student would take core classes at the high school and then branch out to one of the satellite academies to take classes in specific courses related to their interests.

Lere said his plan initially is designed for the district's two larger high schools, Pueblo West and Pueblo County.

"I don't think this is something we need at Rye, but I think at the two bigger schools it is worth looking at," he said.

Lere said the concept, which not only would create smaller class sizes but smaller schools within a school, which he said would help create more interest in school.

"If students are interested in school, they will stay in school," he said.

Lere added that the concept also could foster stronger relationships among students in the specialized, smaller classes.

"From what we see at Rye, but especially at the Tech Academy, when you have smaller groups of students with like interests, they become loyal to each other and to the program," he said.

Lere said it also would be beneficial in helping to address the ongoing problem of overcrowding at Pueblo West High.

"A side issue that keeps coming up is having to build more classroom space at Pueblo West," he said. "If we did these satellite schools, we might be able to do it cheaper and more efficiently."

Lere said using Pueblo West as an example, the satellite academies could be located in existing buildings in the community or could be built on some of District 70's already designated school sites.

Many of those designated sites are not large enough for a comprehensive high school to be built on, Lere said.

Lere said the cost to construct the satellite buildings would be considerably cheaper than a traditional school building.

He said a satellite campus would not need a cafeteria, gym, auditorium and other amenities that are part of a traditional high school.

Students would continue to eat lunch and attend classes like gym at the regular high school, Lere said.

The plan is designed mainly for junior and senior level students to attend the academy.

"We could change the enrollment by about 2,500 students without changing the number of kids that are in the building at one time," he said. "We could do it cheaper while extending the life of the school."

While half of the students are at the high school taking core courses in the morning, the other half would be at one of the academies. In the afternoon, the students would switch locations.

"I think it's a short-term solution, but I think it's the right solution for many kids," Lere said. "I think it makes economic sense for the kids and it makes sense for the sites we have out there."

Lere said his next step is to find out from the high school staffs what it would take for such a proposal to work.

"I need to find out what they want and what it will take to get them there," he said. "We need to take a look at how we teach and the environment in we teach in. We can change the structure of our schools but if we don't change the way we teach we're not going to get where we want to go."

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Pueblo Chieftain, Colo.

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Source: The Pueblo Chieftain

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