Chico, Sustainable

Once again we are hearing the rumblings and rumors of additional high school options in Chico.

It's about time.

Now, don't get me wrong--Pleasant Valley and Chico High both have dedicated educators and administrators, amazing students, and solid academic programs. But even with Chico High's "Smaller Learning Communities" option, it is unrealistic to think that Chico's two high schools can function as the ideal learning environment for every student in this town. Our youth are too diverse.

One of the new high school options will be a charter school, and the other will follow a home school model that will draw heavily on the talents of the parent community.

The charter high school is being billed as a "Green High School," which will weave concepts of sustainability and environmental awareness into both the academics and the social culture of the school. The organizers hope to open the school by fall, 2010. The school will eventually support a student body of about 100 students. They are in the process of seeking out a site for the school, possibly one that will have enough land to incorporate a large school garden.

Generally speaking, school districts are not in favor of charter schools for economic reasons--school funding is based on student enrollment, so the establishment of a charter school in a district leads to reduced funding for existing schools.

The issue is far from simple. One could say that having different educational alternatives is healthier for our students in the long run, and that if the traditonal schools are losing students to the charter schools, then this should be a "wake-up" to change how the traditional schools go about educating kids.

The counter-argument is that existing schools do their best with the resources they have available, and that the lost funding due to the establishment of a charter school hurts many while benefitting only a handful.

Personally, as I write this during my prep period while subbing a life science class, I feel the the fault lies not with Chico Unified, but rather with the educational system that we have created in this country. Case in point--a beautiful 70 degree day in Chico, and life science class is taking place indoors. And as I have mentioned before, this is the norm.

The U.S. educational system is flawed--it was established almost a century ago to train students for a different time, and try as we might, it is sorely challenged by the task of educating our youth for the today's world, today's issues, and today's challenges.

Changing the system is going to hurt.