TRUMBULL COUNTY Principal outlines concept behind new high school

The concept is for separating upper and lower classes.
By DENISE DICK
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
WARREN -- Incorporating the small-school concept into one high school is one of the design aims for a new city high school building.
William Mullane, principal of Warren G. Harding High School, will present a report today at a meeting of the school strategic planning committee at the Avalon Inn.
The school district is in the midst of an Ohio School Facilities Commission project to build all new schools. Voters passed a bond issue in November to pay about 20 percent of the project cost while the OSFC will pay the majority.
The concept for a new high school, although the architectural design isn't done, includes separate areas for ninth- and 10th-graders, common areas for both active and academic areas and another pod for 11th- and 12th-graders.
Last year, the district had applied for a KnowledgeWorks grant to convert to four separate high schools, each with a different theme, such as one for the arts and one for science. That idea was abandoned and the district decided not to pursue the grant.
Community meetings and surveys of the public indicated that people didn't want four separate schools, Mullane said. They also believed that the freshman year was too early for a pupil to decide on a theme of study.
"The one thing they clearly said yes to is that smaller is better," he said.
Reasons behind separation
Separating the younger high school grades, both from each other and from upperclassmen, allows ninth-graders more time to transition from middle school and sophomores to get the guidance they need, the principal said.
The younger classes also will be taught by the same teacher through the year.
They will be grouped together according to their grades and test scores and teachers will use that data in their instruction.
Scheduling for the upper grades may work more like a university, although Mullane said that's a detail to be determined in the years before the new school opens.
Design of the high school is tentatively set to begin in September and continue into February. The schedule is subject to updates and not set in stone, but construction is to run from December 2005 to November 2007; pupils and teachers are to move into the school the following year.
Today's event is co-sponsored by Faye and John Kouvas of the Avalon Inn and by Second National Bank.