MARYSVILLE – Getting small will be a tall order.
At around 2,800 students, Marysville-Pilchuck High School is among the state’s largest. In the next few months, it will pick from three ideas how it’s going to convert into several small programs.
By mid-October, the decision will be made, and teachers will sign up or be assigned to the small schools. They will open by the fall of 2007.
By May, students must enroll in a program.
The work being done now will guide learning decades down the road, including after a second large high school opens by 2011.
“We are looking at whatever work we do being sustainable for years to come,” Tracy Suchan Toothaker, the MPHS principal, told the school board Monday.
Half the small schools will be moved from MPHS to the new high school when it opens.
Marysville-Pilchuck has spent much of last year discussing reorganization, and now it’s decision time.
“The work will be hard and it will be fast and furious,” Toothaker said.
The possibilities include small schools that follow general themes over four years and ones that are more closely tied to careers.
Here’s a look at the three options:
* Model A would include seven theme-based schools of 400 students within the large school. Examples include schools of arts and humanities, social justice and global studies.
* Model B would be a mix of theme-based schools and more career-oriented schools.
* Model C would include career exploration schools that would begin when students are juniors.
Examples of those schools are arts and communication, science and technology, manufacturing and technology, business and administration support, administration and marketing, human services, biotechnology and health services, hospitality and tourism, and agriculture and natural resources.
Two academies will open this fall as pilot projects. They are:
* A technical academy with training in automotive technology and computer-aided design.
* A “connect and discover academy” for freshmen and sophomores interested in rigorous classes emphasizing social responsibility and environmental concerns.
One issue that must be addressed is what would happen to ninth-graders from Marysville Junior High School, board member Don Hatch said.
Hatch doesn’t want those students left out when they move up to the high school.
“We either fit them all in or we don’t fit anyone in,” he said.
The district is considering converting the junior high, which now serves eighth- and ninth-graders, into a middle school with students in sixth through eighth grades.
Reporter Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446 or stevick@heraldnet.com.
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