Blog on hiatus

The RenewSteller blog will be on haitus until school starts in the fall. If you have an issue or want to comment on something, please email Charles or Robin.

Working together

Around 45 Steller community members attended the meeting last night (Apr 26) and spent two hours planning our future in the areas of Advisory Groups, Orientation, and Staff Training and Support. It was a gorgeous sunny evening and the mood was relaxed and positive. Groups worked collaboratively and came up with some great ideas and exciting directions forward.

After hearing an introduction and background powerpoint talk by Karin, we broke up into three groups in three rooms, each with staff, parent and student leaders. The groups identified the ideal outcomes we want in these subject areas, then talked about strategies to get there. Butcher paper notes will be typed by the group leaders and posted here on the site. More importantly, they will used with ongoing work to reimagine and reform our practices at Steller in these critical areas.

Next steps will continue on two levels.

First, the groups and forums where work is already happening will take our input from last night. David Breen is leading a group of students working on orientation. Staff and students are working on reinvigorating and redirecting our use of Advisory Groups; that will continue, and work will begin on creating a binder containing norms and support materials for staff members running the groups. Karin is leading the staff training track.

Second, we will continue this process. Parents have discussed the idea of having four all-community meetings next year, continuing this discussion in small groups each evening. Rather than breaking up into committees, we would keep working on a basis in which everyone is welcome and can plug in at any step. The purpose will be to keep the Strategic Plan and RenewSteller energy going in tandem to develop and support our school.

Check back for the typed up meeting notes as soon as the group leaders get that done.

Finally, thanks to all who attended and led the groups, and especially to Karin Parker for her leadership and flexibility.

Karin pushes issues forward

Steller Principal Karin Parker has called a meeting Thursday, April 26, at 6:30pm to begin implimenting the ideas developed by RenewSteller and Steller's stragetic plan. We will be meeting to prepare on Monday, April 23, at 3:30pm.The agenda, as Karin explained in her recent Steller Yeller article, focuses on three major themes: orientation, staff development and counseling groups. Each of these theme areas has a lot of individual tasks attached to it. For example, the staff has been working on the counseling group area, which includes academics, service, discussion of issues, bonding, representation, and student leadership. Each of those topics involves various initiatives. We hope enough people will attend the meeting so that we can break into groups to work on the sub-issues. Karin has also been working with a group of students who are interested in being involved.I've met several times with Karin to work on setting up these meetings, and I'm really excited about her leadership. Karin is trying to bring the school community together to work on the goals that we've raised. Her agenda is ambitious and it will take the support of the whole school community to make it happen.Leaders are needed. Those who can help can please contact me or Karin. The April 23rd meeting will be the chance to agree on how we go forward, and the April 27 meeting is to start making things happen.

Woah. I thought that this paper was just some suggestions to help Steller to its feet. These people were not trying to push their opinions on the community and Steller doesn't have to go through with all that was suggested. People shouldn't have to defend their "side" like an argument. More understanding from the rest of the community would help move this along. Then everyone as a whole can decide what 's going to end up happening to our school.
Jordyn for Jordyn

Choosing our next step

To keep the wonderful energy and momentum going from our last big meeting, it is time to choose some priorities for the Renew Steller project. As we've done all along, this is a voluntary process--we're just working together as members of the school community. We've already accomplished a lot on that basis.

There's a strong concensus behind the desire to make Steller even better by renewing our practices to more clearly reflect our shared philosophy. In addition, we have strong administrative support. Gary and I met with Superintendent Carol Comeau recently. She gave us more than an hour, and her energy level and enthusiasm for the open optional concept at Steller was almost overwhelming. She's definitely ready to help.

Here are some issues that I pulled from the Jan. 31 meeting notes and discussion that grew out of them. I welcome others to add more-- the notes are all found here. Maybe we can't work on all of these at once, but we can address a number of them through the different forums we have-- including the Op Group, Ad Board, Parent Group and the Strategic Plan Committee (which is meeting Thursday evening). Other items will best be handled by staff and the administration with parent support. Anyway, let's start talking about what to tackle and how to do it.

These 10 issues/ideas are in no particular order.

1. Continuous orientation, not just at the start of 7th grade (Karin Parker's idea).
2. Teacher professional development in open optional practices; a credit class for staff could be offered by ASD, to be taught by retired Steller experts (Carol Comeau's idea).
3. SDL/Independent study encouraged, redefined and unified as a core of the Steller experience, with core academic credit given.
4. Teacher recruitment and a standing committee for hiring.
5. Renewed emphasis on student recruitment and admissions.
6. Support for seminar, with greater integration throughout the curriculum; creation of a "seminar team" of trained parents and students to support teachers.
7. Renewed emphasis on counseling groups, making sure all are serving students well, and branching out into more educational and social directions (Barbara Wohlforth's write-up).
8. Strengthening the togetherness of the school community with more family involvement and fun events (See Barbara's concept).
9. Additional support for student leadership, such as academic credit for taking leadership roles.
10. A less structured school day: integrated content, non-traditional time blocks, outcome-based instead of seat time.

It's easy to leave comments here. Soon, we'll be putting together a meeting to start dividing up jobs. Please weigh in now on how we should do this, and what priorities excite you.

Ideas for counseling groups

Look at this article about counseling (or advisory) groups at Essential schools, which I found on the net. (It is posted on the "Ideas and Documents" page.) It is long, but skim to see if it spurs ideas. It would be a good start for the "what are counseling groups for" conversation that needs to happen. My ah-ha favorite part is: "In fact, some of the best advisory group discussions start with historical, literary, or scientific situations that pose compelling moral dilemmas. In her 1984 book Making Decisions, from which several exercises are reproduced here, Nancy Faust Sizer sets out such cases in 26 pairs --one drawn from students' own environment, one from the world at large to encourage analytical thinking and moral reasoning. Emphasizing respect for the reasoning process over the actual outcome of the decision, she argues, allows students to 'compare, dissect, resolve' their common and individual principles." Wow, can you imagine turning CG into arenas for socratic discussion and exploration of real world stuff? I picture a viewing of "Inconvenient Truth" and resulting discussion - powerful way for kids to develop interests. Also, I like the idea that kids could do valuable learning without it being a formal class with evaluation and homework.

Good reading, next steps

Lots of interesting material from the meeting and surveys last week has been posted on the website. This stuff is a treasure trove of ideas as well as a detailed picture of how we all feel about the program, what we like, and areas where we want to do better. The material can form a strong base for next steps in our process. We have parent forum and Advisory Board meetings this week. What should we be doing in specific, concrete ways to renew Steller? Comments?

Creating a Community

From Barbara Wohlforth
The best part about the Jan.31 meeting was that it was fun and productive! I realized that there aren't many times that I go to Steller as a parent when it is fun, where I go home feeling like I accomplished something. During the discussion, it hit me that I was really enjoying getting to know some of the parents and teachers that were in my group. This led me to daydream about having more all community social occasions. We all have so many things to do, and another meeting is definitely not what we want to do! But there isn't anything more important to fostering communication, understanding, and commitment than knowing people's names spending pleasurable time with them. So, how do we start that type of social event, something that kids and adults might look forward to? Food seems to be the tie that binds with this bunch. Would a monthly family potluck, perhaps with other enticements (family dance night, ping pong tournament, etc.) be fun? It seems like it would be pretty easy to do, if we schedule the MPR ahead of time and get the word out. Everybody has to eat, so an hour away from homework and other obligations can't really hurt too much. Is this an idea that other Stellerites could get behind?

Meeting recap and thanks

This from Gary Steele:

I just wanted to express my thanks to everyone for their efforts to pull off last night. It seems to me we are finally on our way to seeing some of the ideas implemented that have been kicking around Steller for the past few years. We had 88+ people (students were harder to account for as they were the ones that moved around). That is very positive participation and bodes well for building a really strong school.

As I walked around listing to the groups, it sounded to me like there are areas of consensus emerging. There are also areas of clear disagreement with the position paper. These include strong feelings about not wanting a smaller school, nor a lottery preference for Open Optional Elementary programs. I also heard a clear sense that emphasizing the schools mission, and an on-going, every year effort to orient everyone towards it- students, parents and staff - was important.

I continue to be impressed by the student leadership that emerges. Robin and Cooper did a excellent job of facilitating and were very poised, articulate and clear when they made their presentations. "High Chancellor" David Breen continues to provide constructive leadership - and as Charles pointed out - What a well written statement he presented - see under "Op Group Update" below. (Do we also have a female Senator/Princess Amadea at Steller?) I don't know about you, but these kids inspire me to work for the best school possible to allow them to explore their full potentials.

A special thanks to all the facilitators/ recorders - Julie Alfred, KJ Farley, Cindy Lankford, Treva Steele, Ken, Nina. And to Barbara Wohlforth and Cheryl Himes who organized the materials as well as facilitated. I'm always impressed that those who do school all day, also can do more "after hours." While we all have very full lives, at last for some of the rest of us this is a change of activity.

Thanks to Charles Wohlforth for helping manage two meetings in one night and at the same time - at Steller and at Chugach. Does he believe in Open Optional education or what?

A big thanks to Alyse Galvin for the 300 cookies, and flyers that went out Wednesday afternoon. The Galvin family continues to be exemplary public servants. Not only have they "deployed" there dad for the sake of our larger state community, but "single parent" Alyse stays actively involved in two public schools while also home schooling - truly amazing!

We had participation from half a dozen staff - Jen, Natalie, Bob, Ken, Nina and Larry - which shows a continuing commitment to go above and beyond for the school. As a parent, I want to do everything I can to support teachers with this kind of commitment.

Thanks to Karin for lining up the MPR for us and participating in the meeting. She was also able to wander the groups, and I'm sure has her own impressions to share.

I look forward to hearing others perspectives, seeing the results when they are posted on http://www.renewsteller.org/ and moving forward - building an ever stronger and vibrant learning community.

In the spirit of Georg Wilhelm Steller - "independence, love of knowledge, courage, and a pioneering spirit",

I am sincerely yours (pardon the archaic expression :-) ),

Gary

Reflection on Meeting and beyond

Overall, the meeting seemed to go well and the goal of incorporating the voices of many other Steller community members was easily met and surpassed. The representation of parents, students, and staff members was inspiring. The amount of involvement by community members has multiplied and, whether in support of the position paper or not, everyone should see the positive in that fact alone.
As expected with everything in life, there was some bad mingled with the good. I was participating in the School Organization seminar/discussion group and speaking time was split even between the adults and students; however, just over half-way into the meeting I was pulled aside by a fellow student. I was informed that several students were feeling that discussion in their groups was being dominated by the parents, and it was not because of lack of things to say from the students.
This sort of situation is one of many that the position paper (or parts of it) is addressing. The students are the only reason that meetings about position papers are possible. Without the students, Steller would not exist and for that reason our opinions are equally as important as those of the parents. Many comments or opinions may be somewhat naive or erroneous, but it is a vital educational experience for students and everyone else who is open minded within the community.
The most effective methods to revitalize Steller will lie with the students, therefore the students must feel empowered! Students need to have the support of their parents in their beliefs and actions (responsible ones, of course), even if the parents do not feel the same about issues as their children. One of the greatest things about Steller is the opportunity to be an individual, a TRUE individual, within an accepting community. Students' individualities, and in turn their ability to grow as a person, are restricted by lack of faith from adults.
The student body does face a daunting obstacle - apathy. As many well know, not all Steller students attend Steller because they believe it is the best educational environment for them because of our philosophy and practices. These students must realize the stagnation that they bring with them when they do not care about counseling groups, or responsible freedom, or even all-school hugs (which many disdain, to which I am very disappointed).
Aside from apathy, the student body and the rest of the Steller community suffer from a lack of knowledge concerning Steller. This can be traced to the failure of the student body to actively participate in New-to-Steller student orientation. Orientation has become "how to survive in Steller" instead of "how to prosper in Steller." It is time to reinvigorate Steller by returning to thorough orientation of new students, parents, and staff members.
I am currently planning a "Re-orientation Day" for sometime in the next few months. I believe that it is imperative to remind (or inform for the first time in some cases) students and staff members (and parents if they should attend) about their responsibility and importance as members of the Steller community.
High Chancellor (Chair)
David B

P.S. Thank you to everyone who attended the meeting! It means a lot to me and to others that so many people are actively interested in Steller's future.

Op-Group Update

The January 29th meeting of Op-Group marked the second week that the majority of our time was occupied by discussion inspired by the Renewing Steller position paper. In those two meetings of Op-Group, and Counseling Groups meeting in between, much information from students has been accumulated. As expected, the stances of the Steller student body are varied, but have illuminated what students want to see happen with Steller's future.
The overall impetus of the position paper, being that Steller is not functioning to its fullest potential, is (for the most part) agreed to be an issue needing redress. As has been already stated in past blogs/comments, there are students who like Steller as it is and see no reason for change, be it drastic or minute; however, the majority of students believe that revitalization is needed.
Delving deeper into the position paper, the student body hesitates and, in some cases, opposes certain clauses. The strongest opposition has come against the notion of reducing the school size. Under no circumstances does the student body as a whole believe this is a credible action, let alone necessary. Concerns about specifically recruiting students from elementary open-optional school are also numerous. Within Op-Group, the majority of representatives did not attend a school with an optional program.
Concerning the position paper in its entirety the student body is somewhat divided. Some wish to see the position paper examined thoroughly and extensively. Others agree with many of the clauses, but wish to see those goals attained through pre-existing avenues (i.e. the Strategic Plan, Student Orientation).
If anyone has specific questions regarding information accumulated by Op-Group I would be happy to answer them. My e-mail address is breen_dl@hotmail.com or I am reachable at Steller Mon-Fri for most of the day :-)

High Chancellor of Op-Group (Chair)
David L Breen

Moving forward

I'm excited about the meeting coming up Wednesday evening (details here) because it will be our first opportunity for a broad-ranging, open discussion with the entire Steller community on the issues we've brought up. I sincerely believe that Steller students, parents and staff are much closer in their views than they realize. We've all read and endorsed the Steller philosophy, so we can't be that far apart. But we spend too much time wondering what others might think without engaging in serious discussion to find out where we really are. Once we begin talking about the vision for the school each of us has, I'm hoping it will match up in some major respects and that we can then move forward in working toward that vision. We will need openness and a willingness to hear new ideas. If we come to this with good will, only good can come of it.

Essential Readings

Gary Steele has gathered some interesting readings on the essential components of strong schools, which are posted on our Ideas and Documents page. Here's his summary and explanation of what you'll find there:

In the 70’s books like Future Shock and Mega Trends told us that in the future our culture – and indeed our world – would become less centrally organized. That local organization and decision making would become the focus, rather than large centralized bureaucracies. Well, the future is here, and you can read Dee Hock, Founder and President of Visa International talk about how his company did just that, and about how to manage from mission and purpose rather than top-down, command and control structures.

Then you might ask yourself : If we are to live into the Stelle(a)r mission of “…creating independent, courageous people capable of dealing with the shifting complexities of the modern world,” What kind of structures do we need to be modeling?

You may have heard Margaret Wheatley speak when the Foraker Group brought her to Anchorage a couple of years ago. Her article “Bringing Schools Back to Life” talks about the importance of shared mission and purpose in creating “living systems.” Most of our educational structures, she observes, are artificial systems because – like out district and neighborhood schools – they are based on geography rather than shared mission and values. Steller was founded on shared values. So read this and see if you don’t agree with our concern that if Steller is to continues as a “living” system – where people “weave together mutually sustaining relationships” rather than an “artificial” system, reaffirming the mission and core values is essential.

The excerpt from the book Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community discusses the important role schools play in building community and how they are essential to developing “social capital.” Anyone who lived through both the ’64 earthquake and the pipeline boom here in Anchorage will resonant with what these researchers are saying about the the importance of social capital and what happens when it is lost.

They also report on the research that indicates that the best schools are ones in which parents take an active role in both the classroom and school governance. This is corroborated by the report release in 1996 by the National Association of Secondary School Principals: Breaking Ranks: Changing and American Institution. This report identifies collaborative decision making, including a school council, as a cornerstone of strong schools - also a cornerstone of the founding of Steller. You can find the updated Breaking Ranks II report at: http://www.principals.org/

We hope you’ll find these thoughts about the “bigger picture” issues of a strong school, informative and thought provoking.

--Gary Steele

Spreading the circle

How many people are interested in new emphasis on the open optional philosophy at Steller? We don't know where this initiative will end up, but we do know it won't be successful without members of our community pitching in.

The Renew Steller group came about when members of four families got talking and decided to meet on a Sunday afternoon. Over a few weeks, we worked out our ideas, creating the position paper we distributed widely. We met with more than 50 other community members in December and had a first chance to find out if our ideas resonated with others using dot voting.

This process is ready for a deeper, broader discussion. We have another meeting planned for Wednesday, January 31. We need ten facilitators and recorders to staff five small break-out groups. We're beyond what four families can do. We're beyond what four families should do. It's time for a larger circle of leaders of this initiative. We'll find out if change is coming at Steller when we see the strength and persistence of the leadership group interested in working on it.

Time to speak up.

Two Stellers?

Suppose (for the sake of discussion) that there are two populations at Steller, one that is really "into" progressive education and another that mostly just wants a small, friendly, but essentially traditional high school. The problem for the progressive crowd would be that their philosophy is excluded by a traditional, structured environment. They need a culture of experimentation and individualized learning, and that can only happen in an environment that is dedicated to those concepts. On the other hand, if a set of classrooms and teachers within the school were set aside as a progressive laboratory, trying new concepts and flexible scheduling, with individual study the mainstream practice rather than the exception, perhaps the two educational philosophies could coexist in the same building. A school-within-a-school at Steller might seem odd, but it would be one way to give every family what they want.

Bottom line, we can't build a community by fighting. But we can't get where we're going without changing. Where is the win-win solution?

Other similar schools

Steller recently rejoined CES, the Coalition for Essential Schools. There is a new movement progressive schools are developing all over the United States, go to the CES website. Many of the comments I hear about what students and parents want from Steller are echoed by those starting Essential Schools. These schools incorporate many of the qualities that Stellerites hold most important, such as small size, independent learning, personal contact with staff, and "real life" experiences in the community.

Call on alumni for help

First, I would like to thank all of you who have started this forum. I can see the immense amount of work involved, and anticipate great things resulting from this effort.

Further, I am delighted that it is being done for the right reasons, by people who really care. Until I read this, I felt alone in my perception that some of the magic of Steller had somehow faded over the years. Worse, I felt like there may be little or no way for me to have any impact, or give something back.

Ideals are often compromised when reality is harsh, and todays Steller faces new challenges we alums never considered.

Luckily, Steller has always faced hurdles, from inception through the laundry list I read today. On our side is the fact that a big part of Steller has been our keen ability to pull together and improve.

After reading these materials, I agree that there are areas in which the Original Steller mission can be revitalized.

I think the core of "open optional" is the sense of community that allows this freedom to learn.

When I listen to students, and look at how my own child perceives Steller, I am left with one question: How can we revitalize that proud and magic sense of community Steller once shared?

While I was already a believer, I would like to share that my kid was at first quite hesitant to attend this school. This was due to preconcieved notions about Steller. Now that she is here, she loves it, but a negative image of Steller was widely shared through her elementary peers.

With this in mind, I think the image of the Steller community is best rooted in students while they are still in the feeder schools.

Of course freedom is the Steller sales hook, and central to the "open optional" approach. Considering that, perhaps we need to focus on the marketing of the Steller message.

In 1980, when I designed the Stellar school logo, I considered that it was not the wings of the Steller Jay which allowed it to soar. I made the head of the Jay central to the logo because the miracle of flight is truly found in the knowledge of how to use your wings.

This knowledge of course, comes from dedicated teachers.

Right now, there is huge talent found in the staff of Steller. Great commitment, vital ideas, superb technique and driven leadership are all evident.

However, the old saying that it takes a community to raise a child rings true to their education as well.

Perhaps the answers to todays challenges can be found in the braintrust. Our graduates are scattered, but their talents are many. Additionally, we have parents who did not attend Steller, but they have fantastic perspectives learned outside these walls.

Carl Guess, where are you buddy? Kurt Marsch? John Frost? Romney Dodd? Michelle Porter? The list of successful graduates is longer than my arm.

Steller would be well served to call on these Business owners, artists, media moguls, and non profit organizers. Within our family is wealth untapped.

I for one, would like to find a way to give back something to a place that offered me so much.

I look forward to finding my own way to help, and appreciate this forum as a catalyst for parents like me, who want the most for our kids, and the best for Steller.

While "open optional" may mean different things to different people, I think we can all agree that the concept cannot exist if we don't pull together.

Thanks again to those who care.

Kevin R. Tubbs, Class of 1980