Terrace High students pick a smaller school

Published 12:11 pm Thursday, February 21, 2008

Students entering Mountlake Terrace High School next fall have a few choices to make.

With planning for the new “smaller learning communities” program well under way, students can choose from six different schools, all with a different curriculum base. The choices include The Discovery School, Innovation School, School of Global Inquiry, MTHS school for the Performing Arts, Terrace Arts &Academics school and the Achievement, Opportunity &Service Community.

Bryan Cain, 13, is planning on attending either the School of Innovation or The Discovery School.

“They both have tech in them, which is what I’m interested in the most, like computers and building anything,” Cain said.

Cain and his father, Ken, who is helping to develop curriculum for the School of Global Inquiry, said they are both excited about the innovative efforts of the high school.

“I think it will be better because it will help me to be organized and because the teachers will really focus on you and not just the class as a whole,” Bryan Cain said.

Ken Cain agreed, but said he understands why some families are hesitant to support the small schools program.

“I think change brings uncertainty, and I think a lot of the uncertainty is because they don’t really understand,” Ken Cain said. “And there’s a big misconception that the students won’t be given an academic background.”

While the different schools will have separate areas of focus, they will all have the same graduation requirements and will adequately prepare students for college, assistant principal Steven Gering explained.

One of the advantages, Gering added, is the community feeling and the effect that the smaller schools will have on students.

“It will just be a whole lot harder to become anonymous or to skip. It’s peer pressure in a positive way,” Gering said.

Alex Moore, a current Mountlake Terrace High School senior, said that even though he’s graduating this year, he also thinks the smaller schools are a good idea.

However, with his younger sister entering the high school next year, he said he is still worried that she’ll miss out on some of the traditional high school experiences.

“It’s a little daunting. The first couple of years are going to be rough and she’ll be starting school during the transition time,” Moore said.

Moore said he has been working with the teachers to plan and build the different programs, and he has confidence the smaller schools will be a success.

“It’s a tremendous undertaking to take a school of almost 2,000 students, break them into smaller schools and get everyone to go along with it,” Moore said. “With cooperation between schools, and program sharing … I think they can do it.”