Sustainable Scholastics
POSTED: Apr 24, 2013 honoluluweekly.com
Hawai‘i’s first green charter school invites applications.
By Tiffany Hervey
In schools, as in life, the commodity in shortest supply is time. How we spend our time is how we reflect our values,” says Buffy Cushman-Patz, School Leader and Governing Board Member of The School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability (SEEQS), a newly authorized charter school that will open its doors on August 5 for the 2013-14 school year.
“By the time SEEQS students graduate, they will have worked with farmers, engineers, manufacturers and politicians,” says Cushman-Patz. “Students will have a sense of vocation and community that motivates them to no longer just examine essential questions of sustainability, but to take responsibility for seeking solutions to help sustain Hawaii and our planet.”
SEEQS is currently accepting enrollment applications for any State of Hawaii student eligible for sixth and seventh grade. The school will be in the Honolulu district, and location is pending. For the forthcoming school year, SEEQS will enroll 60-65 students. At full enrollment, SEEQS will serve 350 students, expanding to serve grades 6-12 by school year 2018-19, with approximately 50 students per grade level. As a start-up charter school, SEEQS is a public school, which means no geographic exemptions for students and no tuition. Start-up charter schools are responsible for finding and paying for their own facilities.
David Gunderson, who is currently teaching at Aiea High School, will teach science at SEEQS. He says that, in addition to a more project-based, hands-on, community-building curriculum, the flexible schedule at SEEQS makes more sense for students to learn. “Each quarter, we will ask an essential question of sustainability and then students will go out into the community for a whole week to experience that theme through field trips,” he explains.
Nathan Malinoski, who will be teaching history at SEEQS, is also looking forward to faciliate learning in a more cross-disciplinary way. “Rather than listening to regurgitated textbook facts, we will look at primary source documents and artifacts, and then students will draw their own conclusions,” he says.
Like-minded educators who envision a different school culture and empowered community are at the core of SEEQS. “These leaders are already doing exciting things in their current work,” says SEEQS board member Mark Hines, “SEEQS will allow them to expand their circle of influence and create a school culture that is a model for 21st century learning."
SEEQS is still accepting applications for faculty and 6th-7th grade students at [seeqs.org]. An information session will be held April 30 at 6 p.m. at Church of the Crossroads, Weaver Hall, 1212 University Ave.
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http://honoluluweekly.com/feature/2013/04/sustainable-scholastics/
Hawai‘i’s first green charter school invites applications.
By Tiffany Hervey
In schools, as in life, the commodity in shortest supply is time. How we spend our time is how we reflect our values,” says Buffy Cushman-Patz, School Leader and Governing Board Member of The School for Examining Essential Questions of Sustainability (SEEQS), a newly authorized charter school that will open its doors on August 5 for the 2013-14 school year.
“By the time SEEQS students graduate, they will have worked with farmers, engineers, manufacturers and politicians,” says Cushman-Patz. “Students will have a sense of vocation and community that motivates them to no longer just examine essential questions of sustainability, but to take responsibility for seeking solutions to help sustain Hawaii and our planet.”
SEEQS is currently accepting enrollment applications for any State of Hawaii student eligible for sixth and seventh grade. The school will be in the Honolulu district, and location is pending. For the forthcoming school year, SEEQS will enroll 60-65 students. At full enrollment, SEEQS will serve 350 students, expanding to serve grades 6-12 by school year 2018-19, with approximately 50 students per grade level. As a start-up charter school, SEEQS is a public school, which means no geographic exemptions for students and no tuition. Start-up charter schools are responsible for finding and paying for their own facilities.
David Gunderson, who is currently teaching at Aiea High School, will teach science at SEEQS. He says that, in addition to a more project-based, hands-on, community-building curriculum, the flexible schedule at SEEQS makes more sense for students to learn. “Each quarter, we will ask an essential question of sustainability and then students will go out into the community for a whole week to experience that theme through field trips,” he explains.
Nathan Malinoski, who will be teaching history at SEEQS, is also looking forward to faciliate learning in a more cross-disciplinary way. “Rather than listening to regurgitated textbook facts, we will look at primary source documents and artifacts, and then students will draw their own conclusions,” he says.
Like-minded educators who envision a different school culture and empowered community are at the core of SEEQS. “These leaders are already doing exciting things in their current work,” says SEEQS board member Mark Hines, “SEEQS will allow them to expand their circle of influence and create a school culture that is a model for 21st century learning."
SEEQS is still accepting applications for faculty and 6th-7th grade students at [seeqs.org]. An information session will be held April 30 at 6 p.m. at Church of the Crossroads, Weaver Hall, 1212 University Ave.
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http://honoluluweekly.com/feature/2013/04/sustainable-scholastics/