West End charter school in the works
Santa Rosa West End District's Historic DeTurk Round Barn
For residents of Santa Rosa’s West End Neighborhood, a nearby school within walking and biking distance would be a dream come true. The proposed West End Charter School may be just what they were hoping for.
Its development team hopes to bring the values of Santa Rosa’s historic district – urbanism, preservation, art – to a small, hyper-local school rich in art programs, hands-on science and gardening projects that might eventually include farm animals. They would also like to emphasize an active approach to problem solving and effective communication skills.
“Creating an independent charter takes a lot of time and money, more than we have in our little group,” said Victoria Paul, a West End resident and member of the team. “What we are after is for the school district to take our idea and make it happen, as a dependent charter.”
With growth expected due to planned development in Railroad Square and the new SMART station, a new West End school could be an asset, proponents say.
Area schools like the Santa Rosa Charter School for the Arts and Village Charter School already have long waiting lists, and financially stressed public schools are losing art, music and extracurricular programs. The West End Charter School hopes to become an alternative.
Residents of the West End neighborhood will propose the school at today’s City Council Meeting, 100 Santa Rosa Ave.. For more information, visit www.westendcharterschool.org.
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Sounds great. The curriculum sounds very engaging. Art heavy, farm animals and gardening, how fun and kid friendly. As a mathematics teacher (middle and high school) I can tell you that not enough emphasis is put on making math fun. The end result our children have atrocious math skills. They reach the JC or college and have to waste time in remedial classes. The mind set of “math is boring and is too hard”, “all I need is a C”, “I’ll never use this in the real world” needs to be broken.
The basic premise of the West End Charter school is three pronged approach to education, with an emphasis on process as well as product. Our theme is “Create, Grow, Learn”. These three words embrace the ideals of creativity, sustainability and real world learning that WECS students will experience. This approach reflects the vibrant, artistic, cutting edge community that is the West End.
The sustainability aspect of the charter emphasizes a school that is accessible by environmentally green transportation such as foot, bike, and train. The West End offers a unique combination of these resources. Students could bike from Sebastopol, walk from Downtown, and ultimately take the train from surrounding cities and towns. Accessibility to the creek is also a benefit for science based learning. One of the important concepts of the West End Charter School is not that the school is just located here, but that the community is the school. WECS students will be out and about in the community- working on hands on projects at the creek, at the Round Barn, working with local artists and craftsman, participating in the share exchange and other unique opportunities of the West End.
Please contact us if you are interested @ westend@sonic.net
For those of you who would like to be added to our list of individuals that wish to give general support of our efforts please visit our Face Book page at http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=194187660618166&index=1 or search for West End Charter School. Our website is still in the works. Thank you!