New Hampshire’s first charter school to concentrate on science, math, engineering, and design is scheduled to open this fall.
The new Academy for Science and Design will be free and is accepting applications from students across the state.
Some residents are hoping a more flexible curriculum will better prepare students for jobs in technology.
NHPR Correspondent Sheryl Rich-Kern files this report.
The Academy for Science and Design, is planning to open this fall with about 40 to 60 students in grades seven through 10.
Its board of directors is currently looking at buildings in the Nashua-Merrimack area.
They have yet to sign a lease.
Sound
A small group of parents and kids attended a recent information meeting in Manchester.
Fade under, Hollin’s welcome…
Sakallah: My name is Samer Sakallah of Nashua. My older son is in the sixth grade. We are looking for something to challenge him. We don’t want the norm: here is the curriculum and that’s it.
Susan Hollins is the charter school’s founding director.
She says New Hampshire stands apart from most other states.
Hollins: We’re one of only eight states that doesn’t have a specialized science school that’s open to anyone in the state.
Rich Andrusiak supervises math curriculum for the state.
He says a recent study from New Hampshire shows that…
Andrusiak1: Employers tend to estimate 40 percent of students are not prepared for the workforce when they exit from high school. And college professors say around the same percentage are not prepared for credit-bearing courses in the college.
Sound – hallways, classrom
But Marshall Derry is not sure this new school is the answer.
He’s the director of the Nashua Technology Center, which serves eight area high schools.
Sound of teacher giving CAD directions
He walks into a pre-engineering class where students are learning computer aided design.
It’s one of more than 20 programs offered at the center to train students for life after high school
DerryCompete: I think we provide a more than adequate program that would certainly compete with what they’re offering. I see us losing some good students that would be pursuing that math science area.
Hendry1: If it puts a little pressure on schools to be able to look at what they’re doing and keep the clientele coming, I think that’s a good thing.
That’s Ed Hendry.
He’s the assessment director and interim associate superintendent for the Nashua schools.
He says, of course, traditional public schools will have to compete with the new Academy for students -- and grants.
But he says it’s better for students to have more academic options….than fewer.
HendryGlobal: There’s still a challenge with having enough kids in the pipeline for engineering and for math in this country, and we’re competing on a global market.
And that’s one of the missions of the Academy: ensuring that graduates are prepared for an overseas economy.
The school plans to teach Mandarin Chinese for example.
Academy Board member Tom Popik of Nashua.
PopikChinese: We think there’s going to be a substantial amount of cross-fertilization between the Chinese technology sector and the United States technology sector.
Popik says that as a publicly supported charter school, the Academy is open to all students.
But they will have to apply--- and be reviewed.
PopikApps: Students must write essays about their interests, provide transcripts of their grades, and evaluations from current teachers.
This application process encourages what Popik calls a self-selected pool of high achievers.
So far, the Board has taken in 60 applications.
The Academy receives about four thousand dollars per student in State funding.
That’s less than half of what local public schools get.
Board members hope to make up the difference through federal dollars, donations and grants.
If the first years are successful, founding director Susan Hollins says the Academy of Science and Design plans to expand.
Ultimately they’d like to accommodate up to 450 students in grades seven through 12.
For NHPR News in Nashua, this is Sheryl Rich-Kern.
