Harrisville—GreenWood Charter School is planning on opening in the Fall of 2015 in Harrisville. The school has open enrollment going from January 1 to February 15 for grades kindergarten to 6th, with a 530 student capacity. The school will serve students from all backgrounds, including special needs students, gifted students, and limited English-proficient students. According to the school’s website, GreenWood’s mission is “to provide a quality holistic education to all students by providing opportunities for them to be active, knowledgeable, creative, and conscientious individuals. GreenWood inspires a healthy balance in life through healthy eating habits, exercise, personal discovery, service learning, and environmental stewardship.” The school is a public charter school meaning that there is no tuition to attend since it receives funding from the State. Instead, families who have children attending will be asked to do 30 hours of service for the school throughout the year. This can range from volunteering in the classrooms to helping monitor their website.
Jessie Kidd, who serves as the school director, says one of the most important things taught at GreenWood will be mindfulness to help students learn to make better choices. By doing mindfulness exercises every day, she says students will be able to gain the experience they need to help them in every aspect of their life. “Experience is very powerful for children,” she said. The school will be modeled after six core HEALTH values: Healthy habits, Environmental stewardship, Achievement, Leadership, Thinking creatively, and Honoring diversity.
GreenWood will use expeditionary learning which “challenges students to think critically and take active roles in their classrooms and communities. The approach is that the student learns best when they are active participants in the learning process and not passive receivers of information. The model emphasizes high levels of student engagement, achievement, and character development.” Jessie said there are a few charter schools in Utah that use this type of learning with great success and hopes that success will continue at GreenWood.
There will be an open house for families interested in having their children attend on January 8 at 7:00 p.m. at the Harrisville City cabin on 725 W Harrisville Rd. There will be a presentation about the school as well as a question and answer session. For more information, visit http://www.ilovegreenwood.org/.
