ECS has enough on its plate without dealing with AR

As one of the founding teachers at the Academy of the Redwoods, I was stunned by the position and posture Eureka City Schools adopted towards the Fortuna Union High School District and Academy of the Redwoods. Particularly, some 17 years after ECS rejected participation in developing and operating what would become AR.

Founding teacher Steve Irwin and I were in attendance at the meeting where ECS declared they had no interest in partnering in this Early College High School venture. At that time, they were fully aware of this future school’s location and raised no objection. In fact, FUHSD’s “all in” was not fully accepted until further attempts were made to encourage ECS to reconsider.

In the end, ECS remained a steadfast “no.”

In their letter to FUHSD, ECS ‘s lawyer states, “(B)ecause the District sees it as inevitable that the legally proper and best solution as to this dispute is for the seamless transfer of operations of the Academy to the District, the District believes that in the short term, the District’s operation of the Academy will clear the way for regular and lawful enrollment of students residing within the District into the Academy.”

Well, they may or may not have a legal right but they are mistaken if they believe they can make it seamless. Steve, Pam Barkdull and I spent months in conjunction with CR in developing the Gates Foundation grant application outlining the basic structure and educational pedagogy of the school. It took another school year to develop this outline into a school ready for opening in the fall of 2005. This was when the work really began … moving from the theoretical to having real students in front of us. However, it became a shared endeavor of staff, students and parents to develop the culture and standards dictating students’ educational journey.

Over the years, we found it takes a new staff member a full year to fully grasp the philosophy, let alone the mechanics, of our Early College High School. I think ECS may find after driving their 1940s car for most of their life, seamlessly jumping into their 2020s new car, popping the key into the ignition and … what do you mean there is no key?

I’m not sure how they will make this seamless transition from scratch … as you may be handed over the keys, but the intellectual property that was developed at AR belongs to the Fortuna Union High School District. Plus, you will not find the essence of AR in some District-created manual, as it resides in every staff member and student. It is passed to each new group of students and staff through example, discussion and sometimes trial and error.

From my perspective, it appears the administration at ECS has enough on its plate in the schools already under its purview.