D-11's new magnet school attracts full house

Colorado Springs School District 11's new math and science magnet school is doing a good job on the "magnet" part: The school has attracted a full house.

The initial goal for enrollment was 200. Roughly 250 students, most of them from the neighborhood, are enrolled at the former East Middle School, although some are coming from districts outside D-11, including Manitou Springs, Widefield and Academy School District 20.

The school has started a waiting list for others hoping to attend, said Principal Rusty Moomey. The school will open in August with sixth-graders only. Seventh and eighth grade will be added in subsequent years.

The school doesn't have a name yet - the school board hasn't approved one - but it will have something other schools don't: access to some of the most acclaimed music and performing arts teachers in town through a partnership with the Colorado Springs Conservatory.

A contract has not officially been signed, but district spokeswoman Elaine Naleski said the partnership will provide rent-free space to the conservatory, a prep school for performing arts students. In return, conservatory employees will work with students during the school day to enrich the art and music curriculum.

Magnet school students also will be able to take part in conservatory activities after school. Conservatory programs are pricey - $500 to $2,500 - but Naleski said D-11 and conservatory officials are working on ways to make them accessible through scholarships.

The conservatory will work with the district to upgrade facilities such as the auditorium, Naleski said.

The partnership is unprecedented, said Linda Weise, the conservatory's executive director. She said she hopes it leads to other people asking "What if" and creating partnerships.

"I can't tell you how thrilling it is," she said.

School and district officials emphasized the school's arrangement with the conservatory isn't its only community partnership. Other partners include Cool Science, a local group that does hands-on science presentations and workshops, and Pikes Peak Workforce Center, which will create a career center at the school for students and their families. More are coming.

Although the school has a math and science emphasis - thanks to a $5 million federal grant - art and music connect to math and science through light, color and sound, Moomey said.

A piano's sound, for example, can change based on the length, diameter, tension and density of the wire inside. Those are math and science concepts.

Music and art, along with the math and science focus, "completes us," said Stacy Brisben, the school's curriculum coordinator.

All students will learn some music theory, composition and piano, along with daily classes in math, science, social studies and literacy, Brisben said.

There will also be a time each day when students work in small teams on monthly projects. Schoolwide, students will tackle topics such as plants, robots and rockets.

The school isn't just for science and math geniuses. Students will have a wide range of skills, Moomey said, from special education to gifted. Some need help learning English; others are ready to tackle Algebra 1.

Regardless, he said, "you'll be better when you leave us, period."

There's also a mix of races; one of the goals of the federal grant is to bring the school's minority population close to the district's overall percentage of about 40 percent.

The building is being upgraded, using voter-approved bond money.

New equipment, such as digital microscopes and laptop computers, will greet students bought with federal grant money. That money will run out in three years; part of director Mary Ley's job is to find money to keep the school running when grant money runs out.

CONTACT THE WRITER: 636-0394 or shari.griffin@gazette.com

WHAT'S IN A NAME?

The school's name must be approved by the school board, but other topics, including a discussion on school closure, have taken the school board's time.

A committee has offered three names as possibilities.

The top pick?

Galileo Middle School.

Central and Einstein are alternates.

Board member Charlie Bobbitt said he doesn't think a lack of a name is a problem since the school is attracting lots of students. He has also received comments about naming the building after someone within the district, rather than a historical figure, and wants to take time with the topic.