A new charter school proposed for Woonsocket is not without its supporters — or opponents.
At a recent (April 18) public hearing for the project, Jack Lawhead, a Woonsocket High School English teacher who is spearheading the project, called it “education through the cultivation of talents and real-life experience.”
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The proposed school is a collaboration between the Northern Rhode Island Council for the Arts (NRICA) and the Woonsocket School District, and will focus on the arts (visual, performing, artisan and culinary) and a student-run business. The school will engage students in academic subjects by making connections between business and the arts. The site (which the group hopes will be on Main Street) will include an old-fashioned French general store, art gallery and antique shop.
Lawhead envisions a school with 15 to 20 students spending a fourth of their class time developing their discipline or specialty.
The BEACON School will target students interested in the arts and at risk of dropping out. As a small school, BEACON will rely on Woonsocket High School for some academic courses and health services, according to its mission statement.
If things go according to plan, BEACON will be fully operational by the fall of 2002, said Lawhead.
The school, said Thomas Dickinson of the NRICA, would provide students with “innovative teaching methods, such as studio time, and the opportunity to develop and run a small business.”
But not everyone is in favor of the proposed high school.
“At this moment, I stand opposed,” said Robert Vachon, principal of Woonsocket High School. “I am of the belief that we all work together. Creating a charter school splits the population.”
Recent reform efforts have introduced standards-based practices to the school, Vachon said.
In fact, he added, that with the exception of a culinary arts program, “we have addressed most of what they want to do within the school. It doesn’t offer any kind of new innovation that we don’t offer here.”
While charter schools must adhere to standards outlined by the Board of Regents, the Beacon School would not be certified by the New England Association of States and Colleges – another concern, said Vachon.
“If we (Woonsocket High School) don’t adhere to the standards, they tell us where we fall short,” he said.
Vachon cited students not having the opportunity to be involved in a variety of activities as another concern. A school designed to focus on certain things inevitably cuts out others.
“A Beacon student is not going to be an athlete,” he said.
And, if for example, Woonsocket High School’s theatre students decide to attend the BEACON School, what does that mean for their collaborators in the music program?
“You’re limiting their (the students’) options for marrying the different curricula together,” Vachon said. “Out theatre arts teacher is worried that her program will be destroyed.”
Woonsocket City Council member Leo T. Fontaine attended the meeting to show his support for the project.
“For too long we’ve heard of the failures of public education throughout the country and have heard the continued calls for new ideas and improvements to the traditional educational models,” he said. “The BEACON proposal in my opinion is an idea that is an answer to these calls.”
Fontaine is also a member of the NRICA.
“There may be some people who argue against this proposal for various reasons,” he said. “But I can only say that the underlying basis for each of their arguments is fear, fear of doing something that hasn’t been done before, fear that they may lose funding, and fear that they may be left behind. I think it’s important to move forward with this program in a way because it’s something that hasn’t been done before. Progress has never occurred by doing the same things over and over again In the end, if there’s anything that we should fear, it’s what will happen if we don’t move forward with the BEACON school.”
Ralph Coppola, of Quick & Reilly, at the meeting to represent Business Volunteers for the Arts, said “I see this as a phenomenal opportunity to incorporate both arts and business. The arts are an important part of society, but they are unable to function without business Creativity is the most important part of business.”
Monique Jean, a Woonsocket cosmetologist, said she attended the meeting “from the side of business and creativity.”
Jean said the BEACON School would provide support and exposure for students who are more artistically inclined, and provide the real world experience that can help them to succeed.
“Sometimes, they’re in school and they learn a lot of subjects and once they’re out in the real world, it’s a different story,” she said.
Keith A. Oliveira, charter schools coordinator for the Rhode Island Department of Education, said that once the public comment phase concludes at the end of the month, the department will conduct an internal assessment, taking into consideration the plans outlined by the school as well as the comments from the public.
A recommendation on the proposal will then be made to Rhode Island Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education Peter McWalters. If McWalters approves the plan, the proposal goes to the Boards of Regents for approval.
“There seems to be a lot of support for this project,” said Oliveira, who oversees the approval processes for each charter school in the state. Oliveira said that currently there are 12 charter schools at various stages of review in Rhode Island.
