Schools for the whole community

Could 21st-century schools start to reknit our communities while providing critical basic education?

Terry Peterson of the College of Charleston, formerly top aide to former Gov. Richard Riley when he was U.S. Education secretary, says he thinks so. Stop thinking of schools as 8 a.m.-to-3 p.m. islands of specialized teaching services, he says. Instead, bring them back into the fabric of neighborhoods. Elementary and middle schools in his formula would be seen as community learning centers, open 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., for a full range of children's needs and interests — study hours, fitness and sports, community gardening, computer labs and more. Ideally, health, mental health, library and other facilities — services for the 'whole kid' — would be available as well.

Then, in the evening hours, the schools would offer courses for adults who missed basic learning as youngsters, or did poorly in school but could relearn (and improve their employability skills) comfortably in their own neighborhoods. It's a model already being tried in one North Charleston school, perhaps a regional model.

What about high schools? Peterson

What about high schools? Peterson favors, again, smaller learning communities — including the huge high schools broken into learning centers of no more than 400 to 500 students each. Major focus needs to be placed on personal attention, making the middle school-to-high school transition in which so many young people 'get lost' go more smoothly. Starting in eighth grade, a parent and community volunteer would sit down with a young person for an annual conference to gauge what it takes to keep him or her committed and on the way to post-high school learning. A related device: arranging visits to college campuses, encouraging youngsters to take the courses they'll need to qualify for entrance, and getting their parent or parents excited about the possibilities.

A model of this personalized design is already under way at Charleston's Burke High School, assisted by a team from the University of Charleston's School of Education.

All this breaks the normal 'school production' mode. And it all costs money — hard to find in normal school budgets, requiring special public contributions, in part through the region's United Way. But the caring message could be contagious. Indeed, it could be a way to draw more qualified and former certified teachers, even working part time, back into the schools. And the payoffs could be dramatic: a Charleston region more prosperous economically, less burdened by low-income dependency and free from its currently embarrassing high rates of crime.

But does all this have to occur in the 'silos' of individual county school systems? Not necessary, Peterson says. He suggests a tri-county experiment in collective — shared — learning across the region. As an example, pose the question: What are the eight, 10 or 15 economies of today's world? How do we learn more about them? One group of schools might pick China, study its economy and culture, offer courses in Mandarin. Another group could pick Russia and Russian, another perhaps Brazil and Portuguese.

With this kind of educational collaborative, no school, no district would have to feel left behind. And the cumulative impact: A modern world region, set beside a great port, using its schools to scope the world, could produce learning, focus and pride in the entire Charleston region.