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Secondary Learning Options-Homewood Community Westinghouse High School Meeting October 8, 2008 Summary of meeting attended by PURE Reform PPS Director of High School Reform: Derrick Lopez, at an informational meeting addressing Westinghouse High School that was attended by about 60 people, presented the issues surrounding Westinghouse including: 1) Underutilization of the facility 2) inadequate PSSA test scores in reading and math 3) decreased number of academic and nonacademic opportunities due to decreased enrollment. Mr. Lopez stated that this was the first of a series of meetings that will be held monthly (dates, times and locations TBA) over the next several months to begin what the district calls “dialogues” related to addressing the best methods to better educate the students served by PPS schools Faison K-8 and Westinghouse High School. Dr. Wallace, Homewood resident and pastor of a local church representing the Homewood Community Partnership, presented the possibility of combining Faison K-8 with Westinghouse to form a 6-12 high school with a focus on sports, science and career/technology education. Dr. Wallace states that a tremendous amount of research supports the benefits of utilizing sports to foster improved academic performance. Some features of this school would include: • extended day and school year • single sex classrooms • uniforms • Athledemics (academic competitions between classes) • Celebration of academic successes (trophies, banners) • Daily physical education Although Lincoln K-8 was not mentioned in the proposal, Mr. Lopez stated that any discussion regarding Westinghouse would have to include all schools that feed into Westinghouse. Some participants at the meeting protested the potential merger of Westinghouse and Lincoln. Reasons stated related to the fact that the students at Lincoln have already been disrupted due to the move during the district’s Right Sizing Plan and that progress is finally being made in Lincoln’s K-8 configuration. Last week, the committee investigating potential sites for the International Baccalaureate program toured Westinghouse High School, another option being investigated by the district for the underutilized facility.

Secondary Learning Options-Homewood Community Westinghouse High School Meeting

October 8, 2008

Summary of meeting attended by PURE Reform PPS Director of High School Reform:

Derrick Lopez, at an informational meeting addressing Westinghouse High School that was attended by about 60 people, presented the issues surrounding Westinghouse including:

1) Underutilization of the facility

2) inadequate PSSA test scores in reading and math

3) decreased number of academic and nonacademic opportunities due to decreased enrollment. Mr. Lopez stated that this was the first of a series of meetings that will be held monthly (dates, times and locations TBA) over the next several months to begin what the district calls “dialogues” related to addressing the best methods to better educate the students served by PPS schools Faison K-8 and Westinghouse High School.

Dr. Wallace, Homewood resident and pastor of a local church representing the Homewood Community Partnership, presented the possibility of combining Faison K-8 with Westinghouse to form a 6-12 high school with a focus on sports, science and career/technology education. Dr. Wallace states that a tremendous amount of research supports the benefits of utilizing sports to foster improved academic performance. Some features of this school would include:

• extended day and school year

• single sex classrooms

• uniforms

• Athledemics (academic competitions between classes)

• Celebration of academic successes (trophies, banners)

• Daily physical education

Although Lincoln K-8 was not mentioned in the proposal, Mr. Lopez stated that any discussion regarding Westinghouse would have to include all schools that feed into Westinghouse. Some participants at the meeting protested the potential merger of Westinghouse and Lincoln. Reasons stated related to the fact that the students at Lincoln have already been disrupted due to the move during the district’s Right Sizing Plan and that progress is finally being made in Lincoln’s K-8 configuration.

Last week, the committee investigating potential sites for the International Baccalaureate program toured Westinghouse High School, another option being investigated by the district for the underutilized facility.