MARYSVILLE – Whether from a big house on a hill, a small apartment in the flats or a run-down trailer on farm land, it won’t matter.
A home in the north, south, east or west ends won’t make a difference either.
Academic interest, not geography, could determine where Marysville students attend high school when a new $79 million campus opens by 2011.
It’s a departure from tradition. Most high schools’ school bodies are defined by location.
In Marysville, the plan is to break up the new high school and Marysville-Pilchuck High School into smaller schools within each campus to make learning more personal.
The idea is students will choose which small school to attend based on the specialized curriculum they offer.
They could eventually choose from roughly a dozen academies across the district.
The Marysville School District is designing the new 1,600-student high school off 88th Street on Getchell Hill to include separate smaller schools.
Marysville-Pilchuck High School will be similarly divided by fall 2007.
The academic emphasis of each smaller school is being determined, but ideas are being formed. Next fall, for instance, a new technical academy will begin at Marysville-Pilchuck with career paths in automotive technology and computer-aided drafting.
“Although the plans for a new high school are the attention-getter right now, the more significant change is the move to small learning communities,” said Larry Nyland, the district superintendent.
Plans call for developing small schools at Marysville-Pilchuck, then moving half of them to the new high school when it opens in either 2010 or 2011.
What the new school building and campus will look like is taking shape now.
On Tuesday, teachers, architects and school leaders roughed out three conceptual designs on paper.
On Thursday night, school district residents can do the same, offering their thoughts on how the new school building should be designed and about the district’s push to smaller schools.
They can also learn about design work already well under way for a new elementary school off of 67th Avenue NE and a campus for three option programs on the Tulalip Indian Reservation.
To illustrate the size of a “small school,” Nyland said teachers in each specialized program should be able to fit around a conference table.
He also cites research showing students are more likely to graduate from smaller schools than from large high schools.
Arden Watson, president of the Marysville Education Association, was among teachers who offered their opinions Tuesday.
She likes the idea of smaller schools that develop personal learning relationships between teachers and students, but is cautious.
“We are not just jumping on a bandwagon,” she said. “We want to make sure it’s something that will help kids.”
Dozens of teachers have visited schools that have converted to the smaller-school model, and there are differences from place to place.
Marysville could include aspects from several schools.
Vince Cotroneo, a counselor at Marysville Junior High School, likes the small school concept that is already in place on his eighth- and ninth-grade campus.
“It makes the kids feel they belong,” he said.
Each large high school could end up with four smaller schools of about 400 students each. The district also has three small optional high schools, including an alternative high school, a predominately American Indian school and a campus that emphasizes arts and technology.
Tracy Suchan Toothaker, principal at Marysville-Pilchuck High School, said it will take some adjustment for the community to think of a district with a dozen small high schools instead of two big ones.
“It’s definitely a change,” she said.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
District hosts open house
The Marysville School District plans to host an open house from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday where the public can view design options for the new high school, elementary school and secondary options campus.
The meeting will be at the service center board room, 4220 80th St. NE.
Ideas for smaller schools within Marysville-Pilchuck High School will also be available.
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