JOPLIN, Mo. —
With a slate essentially wiped clean by the May 22 tornado, a Joplin group that includes parents and students as well as educators is trying to envision a collective dream high school.
The local school district was the host for a collaborative meeting Monday at the Joplin Family Y South to discuss ideas for a successor to the Joplin High School building that was destroyed by the storm. The group’s purpose is to identify possible instructional structures that could be incorporated as part of the design of the new high school.
“It’s very seldom that a school district gets to start from scratch and create a vision and build a building around that vision,” said Superintendent C.J. Huff.
The group discussed several ideas in smaller focus groups, including the role of technology in the future school, flexible scheduling, a freshman wing, a more college-like atmosphere, and possibly implementing career cluster academies in areas such as information technology, finances or health sciences.
“The overall goal is to get some ideas out in front of a bunch of people and determining what are some of the big overarching themes in the approach to our school,” said Kerry Sachetta, high school principal. “We’re not into the design phase or anything like that, but we want to make sure that these ideas or concepts help drive the eventual design.”
Sachetta said the group was discussing “big-picture stuff,” seeking ideas from students and keeping them involved. One idea was allowing students to take more college-level classes or earn an associate degree while in high school.
The group consists of parents, students, teachers and leaders in the education industry, said Angie Besendorfer, assistant superintendent. Representatives participating included those from Apple Inc., Missouri Southern State University, Pittsburg State University and the Mid-continent Research for Education and Learning organization.
The meeting was run through a moderator while the education leaders, parents, teachers and students split into smaller groups for brainstorming.
“We want to dream about the next best practice,” Besendorfer said. “If we’re going to have the best high school in the nation, then we don’t need to build one that already exists. We need to take what is out there and what people are doing that’s great and build on it.”
This was the second meeting for the group, which first met in June. Huff said he anticipates the group will meet several more times as plans for the new school are fleshed out.
Selection approach
Student and parent participants were selected by building principals throughout the district, said Terri Hart, coordinator of curriculum, assessment and instruction.
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Related Photos
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Teacher Charla Hamilton listens intently Monday as Joplin High School freshman Saniya Ablatt speaks during a meeting of a group that is trying to distill a vision of the district’s “dream” high school. The Joplin High School building was destroyed in the May 22 tornado. GLOBE | T. ROB BROWN
Discussion
Group works on vision for Joplin High School
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