Eps 1: The history of Heartwood Elementary School
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Host
Isobel Graves
Podcast Content
Heartwood Institute has expanded Heartwoods morality curriculum into hundreds of school districts around the city and nation, working alongside Highmark Foundation and The Childrens School at Carnegie Mellon University along the way. This group of committed educators wanted, once again, to build a school following the Montessori philosophy, in an environment that was a loving, safe place for its students, parents, and teachers. In the late 80s, Childs joined forces with three veteran elementary teachers who were equally disturbed by the dangers and crises facing children.
Little did she know that the days of child-care at the Highmark School would become the site of the networks -- the president and chief executive of Highmark Foundation, Karen Wolk Feinstein, was sitting in Childss back study hall. Christine then focused her time on her two children, now in their late teens, volunteering in their schools, the PTSA, local museums, etc. She found a way to mix her love for nature and teaching, volunteering at the Education Department of the California Academy of Sciences in San Francisco. As the custodian at Camp Kent Nature Center in Amesbury, Kristin runs the summer camp and also an after-school hike club for kids in K-12.
She is excited to help connect kids and families with nature in a supportive, loving community such as Heartwood Nature School. Hana is an avid horse and photo enthusiast, and she will bring her sunny smile and special child-friendly ways to Heartwood as the preschool teacher. She is excited about spending intentional time in nature -- both with her oldest child and with Heartwoods nature school.
She is a member of the Merrimac Coalition to Combat Racism, and holds her certification as a nature teacher with the Eastern Areas Forest & Nature Schools Association, which is also the schools membership. Heartwood Nature Schools child-development mission to connect with equity and justice through immersion in nature speaks to her. It was within building the pod of precious children Heartwood Nature School was born -- marrying her love for early child learning, which is play-based, emerging, with her love and respect for nature.
After the First World War ended, families moved on to Camp Lewis, with children attending nearby DuPont Civilian School. In one short history, a general commanding officer noted that there were 706 students at Camp Lewis in 1948, and that the majority went to DuPont School. In the immediate postwar years, high school students at Camp Lewis and McChord Air Force Base attended Clover Park High School in Lakewood.
Camp Lewis, predecessor to Fort Lewis in Pierce County, was built in 1917 with no housing for families and no schools. An agreement was made between Camp Lewis commanding officer and the DuPont School District, with the latter providing elementary education. The DuPont-Fort Lewis school district claimed Elementary School #4 was located within their territory, and Clover Park claimed the boundary of the Murray Creek as well.
Elementary School number 4 was left empty until September 1960, when DuPont-Fort Lewis School District #7 and DuPont School District fought for jurisdiction. The non-post schools that had students from Lakewood and Camp Lewis were Lakes Middle School in Tacoma, Clover Park Middle School, and Woodbrook Junior High. Lea, Pearson, and Richards designed elementary school #4, which has 13 classrooms and is designed for 430 students, kindergarten to fourth grade.
The Heartwood staff understood that I, and the other students in Heartwood, were diverse. They talked about how the local school districts were paying to educate the students of service members, yet they were not receiving any property tax support.
The costs for any education programs that are based in a community, or alternative programs not included in what a school district offers, are a parents financial responsibility. Based on numbers available from other independent schools, we know we are able to operate the blended learning program at about 20% lower costs per student compared with other similar programs in the L.A. area.
If a student refuses these, the student is given the facts as they are known at the school, and the opportunity to provide their own version of what happened.
At Hazelwoods two community after-school programs -- Hazelwood Propel and the Life Center -- The GRAN Program trains and matches 19 50+ year old GRAN volunteers with 50 preschool through elementary age children in order to have a meaningful conversation about ethics, all the while sharing in the joy of reading.