Photograph by George Sakkestad
Portal student Joel Shaw watches Ryan Zappacosta film classroom scenes for the Internet.
Story By Katherine Petersen
In addition to a host of neighborhood schools, one of Sunnyvale's district's offers parents three 'alternative' campuses to choose from.
Portal, Faria and McAuliffe schools each take unique approaches to education, aimed to fit students' needs, personalities and preferred learning environment.
All three schools are in the Cupertino Union School District, which serves the southern part of Sunnyvale. About 2,800 Sunnyvale children attend CUSD schools, four of which are located in Sunnyvale.
One of Portal's features is a 7-to-1 ratio of students to computers, which will soon be 5-to-1. Faria offers a traditional, teacher-directed approach to learning, and McAuliffe incorporates a lot of parent participation into its curriculum and focuses on small-group learning.
"Parents definitely like having choices. They feel good that they can select programs and schools for their children to find the site where their children will be the most comfortable," said John Erkman, the district's assistant superintendent for instructional services.
Parents must call individual schools to reserve a spot for orientations and tours in order to open enroll at any district school, said Beverly Armstrong, the district's public information officer.
Most of the district's other schools. There is no open enrollment at Collins, Lincoln, Regnart, Stocklmeir, West Valley and Kennedy Junior High, which are full, Armstrong said.
Parents can register for open enrollment for one school of their choice during the week of Feb. 10. Lottery numbers will be given to those who register, and winning numbers will be drawn at random Feb. 27.
Portal
Jeanie de Jong chose Portal School, which is in its second year as an alternative school, for her sons, Menso and Robert, because of its emphasis on multi-age learning. Second-grader Menso and first-grader Robert are in a different "family" rooms, made up of 31 students in kindergarten and first and second grades. However, Menso and Robert are in the same "village," which is made up of three family rooms. Children in each of the school's two primary villages are split up into groups for reading and math according to where they are developmentally, not by grade level.
"If a child is behind or ahead, it doesn't matter because they are where they should be," said de Jong, who spends Monday afternoons volunteering in the classrooms.
Phyllis Vogel, the principal at Portal, said the school has a sense of community because the classrooms are open, with low walls separating one room from the next, making it easy for children to move into their reading and math groups.
"I thought at first it would be chaotic, but they're little troopers. They know where to go," de Jong said.
Deanna Karasek, who spends three hours a week in her daughter Melissa's classroom, looked at several schools before selecting Portal.
"We came from a parent-participation preschool; it was a special environment where students were involved with and respectful of parents and kids and what they thought. Portal was one of the places where we found that same environment," Karasek said.
Karasek also believes in smaller-group learning. "I've seen kids who have gone from having a hard time sitting still to being able to concentrate more, and I've seen kids go from not knowing letters to writing their names," she said.
Portal students have only 1 1/2 months off during the summer and two-week breaks during the year in October, February and April.
"Children maintain skills without a longer break. Our break still gives both teachers and students an opportunity to participate in summer school," Vogel said.
Faria
Many parents like Nancy Cook chose to send their children to Faria School, which takes a traditional approach to education. Cook liked the emphasis on reading, writing and math for Karen and Amy, who are in sixth grade and Steve, who is in fourth grade.
"[Our kids] function better in situations that are more structured. They seemed to thrive more when things were clearly defined," Cook said.
Faria--which has a waiting list of 250--balances out its academic focus with physical education, music and art classes. Some kids participate in a running program during lunch and play soccer, football and other sports in physical education classes.
While many neighborhood schools, teachers will use a variety of approaches, while at Faria, teachers use a consistent approach that matches the school's teacher-directed philosophy, said Principal Dolly Travers.
"We have high expectations for student achievement and behavior," Travers said.
Students at Faria are not allowed to wear T-shirts with inappropriate language or advertising and are not allowed to wear shorts unless Travers has called a "hot day."
Students in first, second and third grades attend school for a half hour longer each day. "We feel that we can devote more time to our academic programs," Travers explained.
Many parents who attended traditional elementary schools want the same for their kids, which could explain Faria's long waiting list, Travers said.
Faria has no combination classes and does not break its classes down into small groups. Each grade level is broken down into three groups for reading and math according to ability level, but kids will still work at their own grade level.
Angela Liu chose Faria for her kids, fifth-grader Tiffany and fourth-grader Anthony, because it is the closest school to her home and she wanted the strong reading, writing and math foundation for her kids.
"They have the same material for each class in each grade level so you don't have to worry if you have the best teacher or not," she said.
McAuliffe
Kathy Wilcox liked the flexible environment at McAuliffe School and felt willing to make the parent-participation commitment required of her. Her son, Nate, is in fifth grade at McAuliffe, and her daughter, Megan, left McAuliffe for junior high school two years ago.
"I like the fact that the curriculum involves educating the whole child. They are learning academics but social and emotional skills as well. " Wilcox said.
Parent participation is mandatory at McAuliffe, which makes it possible for the school to offer hands-on small-group learning and a variety of field trips. This week, Nate is participating in a week-long science camp in Watsonville.
"One time they were studying trees and visited an orchard. They picked apples, counted them and learned to make applesauce. It helps the curriculum come alive for them," Wilcox said.
Wilcox said her kids have had a chance to pursue their own interests at McAuliffe. Nate, who wants to be an astronaut, has time when he can choose to work on space-oriented projects, while Megan, who had a passionate interest in drama and music, had an opportunity to develop her acting talent and a strong singing voice.
Parents attend a seven-week training course before beginning their work in the classroom. This enables them to be on the same page as far as talking to the children is concerned, she added. "It's a real commitment, and you have to really want to do it and have the patience to do it," she said.
Marybarbara Zorio, principal at McAuliffe, said parent participation is one of the school's distinguishing features. "For each child, a parent should contribute one morning per week," she said.
McAuliffe follows the Cupertino Union School District curriculum, but often, parents will work with groups of four or fewer children, sometimes even one-on-one, Zorio said.
Children sometimes have free-choice periods when they can finish undone work or participate in another activity.
McAuliffe wants its students to learn responsibility, Zorio said. "We want to teach our children to manage their time, to prioritize and to pursue their interests. If they choose to play football instead of finishing work and miss a deadline, they must accept the consequences. Part of learning is making poor choices and learning from mistakes."
McAuliffe is the only "whole language" school in the Cupertino Union School District, according to Zorio. Children learn language from whole to parts, Zorio said.
"In our approach to learning, reading skills are taught in context rather than in isolation. Punctuation, grammar and spelling aren't taught as separate skills," she said.
Sandy Gant, whose son, Mark Nelson, is in second grade at McAuliffe, knew after her first visit that McAuliffe was the school for her.
"The second-grade class was in physical education, and they were pretending to be migrating water fowl. They would run to one station and build a nest and lay their eggs, then run to another station to eat. It looked like so much fun," she said.
Gant also appreciates the parent training she went through and the communication skills the children learn to get along with each.
This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, January 29, 1997.
©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.