Facilitator: Heidi Krantz
(Note to reader: This meeting of the Stakeholders addressed a number of complicated financial issues and questions. These questions will be addressed in a focused and comprehensive manner at the meeting scheduled for May 20. While the following minutes attempt to report accurately on financial matters, they should not be regarded as definitive or fully reliable.)
Panelists were introduced: Joanne Vana, Principal from the Brownington School in Orleans County, David Houck, Director of the Mountain School in Winhall, Vermont and Perry Thomas, Craftsbury resident and expert on the Coalition of Essential Schools.
Our facilitator Heidi Krantz began the discussion and introduced Joanne Vana .Her presentation and the following discussion included the following points.
Brownington Central School is a K-6 public elementary school in the Brownington School District. It is among the few public elementary schools in Vermont to receive a distinguished Great Schools Rating of 9 out of 10.
Brownington is unusual in that the town decided to reverse an earlier decision to tuition out grades 7 and 8 to North Country and instead to construct their own facility The decision was very difficult and controversial and took 8 years and several bond votes. The transition is currently underway and will occur over a 2 year period.
Lessons learned include the following:
• The Town was able to save money. For Brownington, it was determined that the costs of community schooling were lower than the costs of tuitioning out. Transportation costs in particular were high cost item. (Per pupil costs for Brownington students are the lowest in the state which contradicts the traditional view that small rural schools are necessarily high-cost.)
• A disadvantage of tuitioning out is that sending towns have no control over tuitions costs which are established by the receiving school.
• Assimilation of young students into a larger, distant school is problematic especially for students from a poorer background.
• Because recipient schools are able to choose students (in grades 7 and 8) there is the danger of subtle discrimination particularly with regard to tudents with special education needs.
• A community school is better able to identify and deal with academic and behavioral issues at an early stage of student development.
• From experience and in general, transitioning out is appropriate and feasible for most students at the 9th grade level, but not before. Students in grades 7th and 8th do better and develop more effective social and learning skills if they are educated in the community.
• Even at 9th grade the transition process can be very difficult for some students. Children without developed social skills have a particularly difficult time.
Heidi Krantz introduced David Houck, the Director of the Mountain School in Winhall, Vermont. Mr. Houck gave a presentation on the history and educational philosophy of the School and described the funding system. The following points are drawn from his presentation. (Stakeholders may wish to refer to the Mountain School’s excellent web site at: www.themountainschool.org.)
• The Mountain School is a Pre-K-8 independent day school and the only Town Academy in the United States serving elementary students. It is private and under the governance of a self perpetuating Board of Board of Directors.
• The School is based on a unique model established in the 1770s called a “Town Academy.” This model combines the educational attributes of a public school (free education for all) with the fiscal responsibility, of the private system. In short, a private school with a public mission. Two of the first established Town Academies in the U.S.—Maine’s Fryeburg Academy in 1791 and Washington Academy in 1792—are still in existence.
• Students learn through an integrated, multi-disciplinary, thematic unit approach. Students experience three overarching themes per grade level per year with a general focus moving from local to national to global.
• In 1997 Winhall had the highest per-pupil spending in the state and was one of the lowest performing schools. In the spring of 1998, the citizens of Winhall voted to close the school and open an independent community day school, following the Town Academy model.( The newly formed Mountain School agreed to service all students in the towns of Stratton and Winhall, making it the 20th “Town Academy” in the United States—all of which are in New England—and the only town academy servicing elementary students in the United States.)
• A “blue ribbon panel” was established to oversee the transition and to design the new school. The teaching staff from the prior school were released. The new school was completely different and designed from the ground up.
• As a consequence, costs have dropped significantly and academic performance has improved dramatically.
• Students living in the towns of Stratton and Winhall are guaranteed admission to The Mountain School and tuition for students is paid to The Mountain School by the respective towns. Students living outside of Stratton and Winhall have the opportunity to attend as private-pay tuition students sometimes assisted through financial aid, scholarships, and/or Service-in-Kind. This partnership allows the Mountain School to enroll more students to help reduce overall tuition costs.
• The Mountain School calendar is divided into three trimesters per year: fall, winter, and spring. The emphasis is on over-arching multi-disciplinary themes to guide student learning. The arts, foreign language, physical education and technology are integrated throughout the curriculum along with the classic disciplines with an overall emphasis on experiential learning.
• The bulk of monies to operate the school comes from tuition dollars collected each year. In addition to tuition, The Mountain School and its partners work to raise funds through grants and donations that constitute roughly 20% of their revenue.
• The Mountain School believes that is has been able to offer families a quality private education at an affordable cost ($12,000 per student in 2009) lower than many local publics schools. Enrollment has more than doubled in the last 12 years and families have deliberately moved to Winhall to take advantage of the new school.
Challenges and issues include:
• Sustaining a clear educational philosophy that is relevant and effective.
• The importance of long range strategic planning to ensure that the school is well positioned to meet changing needs.
• Dealing with the culture of choice that creates uncertainty. (Parents and citizens can quickly change their minds and move elsewhere.)
• Fund raising demands and pressures.
• The necessity of sustaining community involvement and passionate support.
• Complexities that arise from a community with a large number of out of state and second home owners.
Benefits and strengths include:
• Independence encourages adaptation and increases the range and utility of academic choice.
• High quality teachers are attracted to independent schools.
• Independent schools have strong incentives to do better. They tend to be creative, mission driven and respond quickly to perceived weaknesses.
• Independent schools are more responsive to community needs, quicker at making decisions and have a greater sense of community ownership and participation.
Heidi Krantz introduced Perry Thomas who made a presentation on the Coalition of Essential Schools. (Stakeholders are encouraged to visit the web site: www.essentialschools.org.)
Perry began by referencing a debt of gratitude to Bob Twiss who has worked diligently with us and has offered valuable insights into working with Supervisory Unions in order to improve educational quality.
The Coalition of Essential Schools (CES) is an organization designed to create and strengthen equitable, and intellectually challenging schools. Essential schools are places of powerful learning where all students have the chance to reach their fullest potential.
The Coalition works with educators to support and promote innovative and effective teaching and with school districts to shape the policy conditions that encourage democracy, equity, intellectual vitality and excellence.
The CES Network includes hundreds of schools and more than two dozen Affiliate Centers.
CES practice is exemplified by small, personalized learning communities in which teachers and students know each other well in a climate of trust, decency and high expectations for all. Essential schools work to create academic success for every student by sharing decision-making with all those affected by the schools and deliberately and explicitly confronting all forms of inequity. Essential schools focus on helping all students use their minds well through standards-aligned interdisciplinary studies, community-based "real-world" learning and performance-based assessment.
The CES Common Principles, based on decades of research and practice, are a guiding philosophy rather than a replicable model for schools. These Principles are:
• Learning to use one’s mind well. Schools should not be "comprehensive" if such a claim is made at the expense of the school's central intellectual purpose
• Less is more, depth over coverage The aphorism "less is more" should dominate: curricular decisions should be guided by the aim of thorough student mastery and achievement rather than by an effort to merely cover content.
• Goals apply to all students The school's goals should apply to all students, while the means to these goals will vary as those students themselves vary.
• Personalization Teaching and learning should be personalized to the maximum feasible extent. Efforts should be directed toward a goal that no teacher have direct responsibility for more than 80 students in the high school and middle school and no more than 20 in the elementary school.
• Student-as-worker, teacher-as-coach The governing practical metaphor of the school should be student-as-worker, rather than the more familiar metaphor of teacher-as-deliverer-of-instructional-services.
• Demonstration of mastery The diploma should be awarded upon a successful final demonstration of mastery for graduation - an "Exhibition." As the diploma is awarded when earned, the school's program proceeds with no strict age grading and with no system of credits earned" by "time spent" in class. The emphasis is on the students' demonstration that they can do important things.
• A tone of decency and trust The tone of the school should explicitly and self-consciously stress values of unanxious expectation ("I won't threaten you but I expect much of you"), of trust (until abused) and of decency (the values of fairness, generosity and tolerance).
• Commitment to the entire school The principal and teachers should perceive themselves as generalists first (teachers and scholars in general education) and specialists second (experts in but one particular discipline
• Resources dedicated to teaching and learning To accomplish this, administrative plans may have to show the phased reduction or elimination of some services now provided students in many traditional schools.
• Democracy and equity The school should demonstrate non-discriminatory and inclusive policies, practices, and pedagogies. It should model democratic practices that involve all who are directly affected by the school. The school should honor diversity and build on the strength of its communities, deliberately and explicitly challenging all forms of inequity.
At the conclusion of the panel discussions, Anne Volmer discussed next steps and the preparation of the Report from the Collaborative to the School Board. She indicated that the Steering Committee had discussed this matter at length with the following conclusions:
It is essential that we wind up our work for the year and deliver a report to the School Board in June before the summer vacation.
• Despite best of intent, our energy may dissipate during the summer months.
• We need to record and capitalize on what we have learned. If we don’t, much of the valuable information we have collected will be diluted with time.
• It appears that the School will be hiring a new Principal. It is important for us to influence this process.
• As a sub-committee of the School Board, we have an obligation to provide them with a summary report. There is a good possibility that the work of the Collaborative will continue as Phase #2 in the fall.
• Finally and most importantly, the Stakeholders have done a terrific amount of very useful work. We have much to say and it is time to condense our knowledge and provide strong conclusions and recommendations to the School Board.
In order to compile the Report, the following schedule was agreed to:
• May 20: Panel Presentation and Discussion focused primarily on financial and funding issues and questions. Distribution of tentative Outline of Final Report. (Stakeholders were encouraged to begin to review their notes, previous Minutes and handouts and begin to think about key points they believe should be in the final Report.
• May 27: Report Preparation.
• June 10: If needed: Report Preparation
• June 17: Report Compilation.
• June 24 If needed: Report Compilation.
