Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, January 2, 1995 TAG: 9501030011
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Founded 24 years ago, the school has several features of charter schools, one of the latest and most popular of new directions in public education.
Like charter schools in other states, Community School was started by parents and teachers as an alternative to regular public schools.
Parents help organize fund-raising events, accompany students on field trips and sometimes assist in the classroom. Some serve on the school's board of trustees.
Teachers have a strong voice in the school's academic program and curriculum.
The school is on a six-acre tract on U.S. 11 near Hollins College, with three buildings that belong to Hollins and formerly were used as dormitories. Community School rents the property.
Students, teachers and parents work together to create an environment in which children can reach their creative and intellectual potential, said Director Christina Dawson.
Community School opened in the early 1970s before anyone had coined the phrase "charter school." Community was called an "alternative" school; it still is a member of the National Coalition of Alternative Community Schools.
Albert Shanker, president of the American Federation of Teachers, said charter schools are similar to the alternative schools that were founded in the 1960s and 1970s.
"Like today's charter schools," Shanker wrote in a recent newspaper column, the alternative schools "broke away from tradition and school bureaucracy and tried all kinds of new exciting things."
Many of the alternative schools have folded in the past two decades, but not Community School.
There is a major difference between Community School and a charter school: Community School is funded entirely by tuition fees and contributions. It receives no public funds.
The tuition is $3,000 to $3,500 for each child, depending on his or her age and developmental level.
In states where charter schools have been approved, they get public funds. Under Gov. George Allen's proposal for charter schools in Virginia, tax dollars also would be provided to finance schools.
In many states with charter schools, the law prohibits private schools from becoming charter schools. In a few states, however, the possibility of private schools becoming charter schools is under consideration.
Community School has no interest in becoming a charter school for its elementary and middle school programs, Dawson said.
But the school might be interested in developing a charter high school, she said, if legislation is enacted that would permit it.
If a high school receives public funds, it cannot charge tuition and must be open to all youths.
Community School has 150 children in preschool, elementary and middle-school programs. It has no high school now, but it did during the early 1970s. A long-range planning committee is investigating the feasibility of a high school.
"We are watching what is happening on charters. This might be a way to get a high school," Dawson said.
Vouchers and tuition tax credits also could have an impact on Community School if they are approved by the General Assembly.
Under the charter-school concept, the organizers agree to accomplish certain educational goals in exchange for public funds and freedom from bureaucratic regulations.
In most respects, Community School has broken from educational tradition. Students are not grouped strictly by grades. Instead, they are grouped by developmental levels.
In the multi-age grouping, students are neither held back nor pushed forward by an arbitrary grade placement. They proceed at their own pace.
No letter grades nor report cards are used to evaluate students' work. Instead, parents and students have four conferences a year with teachers to discuss a child's progress. A written evaluation is prepared at the end of each school year.
The students must take more responsibility for their academic work in the school's system, Dawson said.
Community School discourages competition among students in grades or other achievements. The school operates on the belief that competition causes anxiety, selfishness, self-doubt and poor communication.
Dawson said the school does not want a student to compare grades, grade levels or test scores with another student's.
Teachers know the students' grade levels and will provide it to parents - but not in the presence of the child.
The school also emphasizes noncompetitive and cooperative games rather than competitive sports.
No class has more than 14 students.
The school's educational philosophy is based on the belief that each child is an individual and creative person who needs to succeed. The school emphasizes individual instruction in a caring and creative environment, Dawson said.
School officials said that the regimentation and peer pressure that often are found at larger schools are absent at Community.
The school encourages the use of first names for everyone within the community. By using first names, involving families in programs and fostering the emotional growth of students, the school creates a sense of community where students learn that their decisions affect others.
"We encourage open and warm relationships between teachers and students," Dawson said.
Community School wants a student body with varied backgrounds, said Linda Snead, the school's coordinator. About one-fourth are gifted and another fourth have special needs, she said. The school provides scholarships and other financial aid to some needy students.
The major fund-raising event is May's annual Strawberry Festival, which generates about $25,000.
Tuition fees pay about 70 percent of the school's operational costs and the remainder come from donations and fund-raising events.
There is a sense of family at Community, Snead said, because some children and grandchildren of the school's founders now are enrolled.
Snead has two children who have attended the school. Her daughter attends Salem High School, where she is doing well academically. Her son attends Community's middle-school program.
Snead said Community School students can compete successfully in academics and extracurricular activities in high school even though the school discourages competition.
Community School students have attended Harvard, Yale and other top universities; they have become doctors, lawyers and other professionals, Snead said.
"If ever I wanted to move from Roanoke, I would not do it because we would have to leave Community School behind," said Donna Knox, a mother of two children who attend the school. She is a member of the school's board of trustees.
Dawson said the school tries to put students at the center of the educational program
"We are not 'public school plus,' nor are we a refuge from the perceived ills of public schooling," she said. "We are not a school specifically for academically gifted children nor are we a school specifically for troubled children.
"We are something different."
by CNB