Arts schools in running for grants.

Byline: Anne Williams The Register-Guard

Separate but complementary proposals to open small, arts-focused, secondary-level schools have landed both the Eugene and Springfield school districts in the final running for start-up grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Meyer Memorial Trust.

The districts got word last Friday they are among eight finalists selected from an initial pool of 13, and on Tuesday teams from both traveled to Portland for interviews with a panel of initiative representatives and educators. The panel will decide and notify winners - probably four - by Sept. 1.

"We feel real good about it, but it's one of those things you just don't know," Springfield Superintendent Nancy Golden said of Tuesday's 90-minute interview, where she was joined by Thurston High School's principal, Doug Jantzi, and theater director, Mike Fisher. "I think as a team we were great. We worked well together."

Springfield is furthest along in the planning process for its school, which for now is being called the Springfield Academy of Arts and Academics, A3 for short. The school would blend rigorous academics with performing arts, commercial art and video editing, and would ultimately serve between 200 and 250 students in grades six through 12. All would be expected to go on to college.

Eugene envisions a school focused on music, dance and the visual arts, serving between 250 and 400 students in grades nine through 12.

Called Arts Central for now, the school would seek to ensure that 25 percent of its students are minorities and/or low-income.

Its students, too, would take challenging academic courses to prepare them for college.

Officials in both districts say partnerships with community arts organizations would be a critical component, and they also hope the two districts could work closely together - perhaps even allowing students to cross boundaries to attend the school of their choice.

The amount of the grants was not yet known.

The funds are available through the year-old, $25 million Oregon Small Schools Initiative. The initiative, the largest private donation ever to Oregon schools, aims to boost achievement and reduce dropout rates, particularly among low-income and minority students, by creating smaller, more personalized high schools.

Earlier this year, North Eugene High School received $900,000 in the first round of grants, awarded to eight large Oregon high schools that will break apart into three or more small, autonomous schools.

Springfield is prepared to open the new academy in fall 2005 should it receive the grant, Golden said, but Denise Gudger, consulting curriculum coordinator for the Eugene district, said Eugene's timeline may be a bit longer.

"The most important thing is that there would be a sound planning process," Gudger said.

Last month, the Small Schools Initiative paid for teams from both Eugene and Springfield to visit the Boston Arts Academy, a Gates-funded school that opened in the mid-1990s and boasts a diverse student population, impressive graduation rates and strong student achievement.

"A lot of what I learned had more to do with small learning communities, and just a commitment to all kids learning," said Golden, who went on the trip. "It really reinforces a belief I have, which is we do need to try very hard to recruit and retain people from diverse backgrounds."

Golden and others said they'd like to copy or adapt many of the elements that have made the Boston school such a success, although they acknowledged significant differences. For example, the Boston school has a much larger pool from which to draw students, and it's also been able to raise about $1 million a year through private fund-raising to keep class sizes small and enhance the educational experience.

Not everyone in the Springfield district is on board with the plan - including most of the teachers in the arts department at Springfield High School.

Theater director Jonathan Siegle doesn't believe an arts academy would help keep more kids in school, given the unusually rich array of arts programs already available to students in the district. He's convinced the academy would harm the two existing high schools by siphoning off the students and teachers needed to keep comprehensive arts programs in place.

Marilyn Clotz, the assistant superintendent who is coordinating the grant in Eugene, said she's heard some rumblings, although few teachers even knew about the grant application when they left for summer break.

"There is some concern, but it's also balanced with a worry about the kids we're not addressing, the kids who aren't connected," she said.

Eugene School Board Chairwoman Beth Gerot said the board wants answers to several questions before it would give its blessing to a new high school, such as how the target population would be identified and recruited and whether the district can afford it in the long run.

"It's great to have all this money come in at the front end," she said, "but is it sustainable when we no longer have that grant money? That's got to be real clear before we decide to proceed with it."