In the Basic School, community begins with a shared vision. Teachers are empowered and the principal is lead teacher The circle of community extends outward to embrace parents, who are viewed as the child's first and most important teachers.
Jackson-Keller Elementary School began its flagship journey as a Basic School by focusing on creating a community, one with a sense of purpose, in a climate that is communicative, just, disciplined, and caring, and with occasions for celebrations. To principal Alicia Thomas, "Community is the glue that holds an effective school together."
A Shared Vision. In fact, 86 percent of the teachers in the Basic School Network state their schools are "caring," and 85 percent report that the school has created an atmosphere in which parents, teachers, and administrators now feel part of a community working toward a common goal. In addition, over 85 percent of the parents in the Network surveyed recently used words such as "welcoming," "supportive," and "caring" to describe their Basic Schools.
A common vision with a common philosophy and common conversation is causing "a transformation in the quality of instructional services provided for students who attend William Perry Elementary School," said Superintendent T. Lowell Lemons in Waynesboro, Virginia. "The Basic School philosophy has been reaffirming for the teaching staff while at the same time causing them to rethink how the components of their teaching practice fit together. It has created a climate of collaboration and commitment versus isolation and compliance."
Teachers as Leaders. Teachers are emerging as leaders in Network Schools. At Etna Road Elementary School in Whitehall, Ohio, teachers now regularly meet as a whole staff, "which has enhanced school community and climate and facilitated discussion and changes across grade levels, improving procedures and curriculum," according to mentor Kristina Herrera. Etna Road teachers now make basic decisions regarding meetings, inservice procedures, and budget. Kindergarten teacher Carole Bryant is released one day a week as the Basic School Coordinator.
Prairie Star Elementary School in Leawood, Kansas, and Douglass Elementary in Kansas City, Kansas, are both new to the Network. But, teachers in both schools resolved as their first order of business to find more planning time together through teaming and rearranging their grouping schedules. Because of their proximity , the two schools are supporting each other through joint inservice programs.
Some Basic Schools have changed their internal structures by creating "teaching families" to improve their total school community, including Benjamin Banneker Elementary School in Milford, Delaware, and Jackson-Keller School. "Families" connect the teachers and the students in kindergarten through grade five.
At Jackson-Keller, creating teaching families was a way to more effectively integrate the curriculum. At Benjamin Banneker, the adoption of "families" was a solution to a problem in the school. First graders and fourth graders at Benjamin Banneker had been egging each other on to act out in the cafeteria. Once teachers began teaming their classes to form a school family, each fourth grader was paired with a first-grade buddy, and the "older siblings" set the behavior standards for their younger "brothers and sisters." The family ideas then blossomed into a schoolwide program. "Everyone now takes responsibility for all students, not just their own, and there are no hard feelings when a colleague disciplines another student," teacher Sandy Baker recently told Instructor.
Principals are the lead teachers in Basic Schools. John Fries, principal of David Cox Road School for Communications and Academic Studies in Charlotte, North Carolina, recently said to the editors of Teaching K-8 when they visited his school: "In the Basic School, the principal is the lead teacher and just as in the classroom, his or her office should make others feel welcome."
Parents as Partners. In Basic School communities, parents are partners in a variety of ways. St. Ann School in Somerville, Massachusetts, once had little parent involvement in the daily life of its school. But as a Basic School, a newly-developed parent volunteer program places parents in every classroom, in the office, and in the lunchroom so that teachers can meet together for planning time. Etna Road Elementary School has expanded communication with parents, and now all Etna Road staff regularly attend parent-teacher association meetings. And at Willard Model School in Norfolk, Virginia, a parent liaison coordinates all activities, and parents now have lunch with their children, if they so desire, or assist teachers in the classroom.