Terry O'Day
Forest Grove Community School
Video of the school board meeting where the charter school was approved. Over 120 community members attended the meeting in support of the school.
Video by Christian Henry, a Pacufic student in Media Arts
One of the teachers standing in front of the school garden, which is on the property of a supportive local business. Covered gateway was built as a City Repair project.
Video by a student in the first cohort to attend grades 1-8 start to finish, about what the school has meant to him.
The school building is a remodeled funeral home provided by a community member who purchased the building and covered remodeling costs. The school has since purchased the building from him but the school would not have happened without the extremely generous support of one amazing man.
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2004 - 2009 Forest Grove Community School
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Project Description
A sustainability-themed charter school in the heart of Forest Grove serving nearly 200 students in grades 1-8.
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Role in the Community
The school serves as a model for sustainability education in the district and provides gentle pressure for other schools to adopt its experiential teaching practices through the long wait list of students wanting to enroll. Students themselves play an active role in the community as part of their learning process. For example, Forest Grove has a tree-planting program and was interested in obtaining an inventory and health report of the trees that have been planted through the program. Using the map provided, students walked the town, identified tree species, and measured height and girth using triangulation, thus reinforcing concepts learned in class through meaningful activity. They were very proud to present the city with their inventory and the city was grateful for their careful attention to detail and professionalism. This is only one of many examples of how students are interacting with the community throughout their education process.
As well, students are a vector of change through their parents, who maintain households, influence school policy, and vote.
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My role
The inpetus for the charter school project began when my son was unable to thrive in school after entering first grade. As well, I had just begun teaching at universtiy and noticed the difference between engaged and curious kindergarteners and passive freshmen entering college. I wondered what had happened in their 12 of education to cause this change. My search for answers led me to conclude that place-based experiential education was an effective tool for maintaining interest and engagement though the school experience. After talking with many teachers and administrators, I also concluded that it would be near to impossible for the existing schools to adopt these practices outright so I determined to start a new school as a way to try out ideas about sustainabilty education with a supportive and commited group of like-minded individuals. I spent a year on my own learning as much as I could about the charter school proposal process and laying the groundwork for the project. I then identified 2 community members who were also excited about the idea of a new school and we worked for 2 years to procure funding and support for the school in the community. I also was the primary agent for identifying the building and working with the owner and architect to remodel it for use as a school facility. Once the school opened, I served as board chair for two years, where I oversaw the development of the organizational and governance structures needed to ensure that the school would continue to thrive and grow.
Excerpt from our presentation to the school board:
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"My current work seeks to raise awareness and understanding of the complex nature of the challenges we face, as well as promote community action towards the culture change that will enable us to address these challenges in a positive way. What better way to engage the community in that conversation than through a school that has at its core the goal of developing the value of stewardship in its students and, through them, the community that they are part of? We all care deeply about preparing our children for the future and school is one of the primary ways our culture does this. In bringing this proposal before you, we have engaged in the process of asking our community to actively evaluate and question the content of the curriculum we use in our schools in relation to the future that scientists are predicting for our children."
