Dean Morgan promotes learning, community service

by Jennifer Schultes
Tuesday, April 8, 2008 2:08 PM MDT

Dean Morgan students, ranging from sixth- through ninth-grade, learn more than just reading, writing and arithmetic. They also learn the importance of giving back to the community.

Granted, academic success of all students definitely is a focus. Take for instance, the alternate block schedule the school adopted in 2004.

With this schedule, students work in four academic blocks per day, which gives ninth-graders the opportunity to earn up to eight credits, reduces student hallway time by half (therefore, resulting in fewer office referrals, said administrative manager Dave Brunner), and ultimately, allows for more instructional time.

“This gives students more time for the application of what they’re learning,” said assistant principal Ron Estes.

Ninth-grader Emily Harris likes their schedule for just that reason.

“With our block schedule,” she said, “we have more time. We don’t have to stop in the middle of doing something.”

Head principal Walt Wilcox explained that another benefit of this schedule is that of choice, noting that some 30 electives became available to students, some of which include: young authors, digital photography, and family and consumer science.

Grades and literacy are the main focus of the Comet Block, in which 30 minutes are set aside every day for teachers to work in small groups with no more than 15 students. Silent sustained reading is practiced every day, and Wednesdays are set aside to review grades. A five-year literacy plan also focuses on reading, writing and speaking in classes across each content area.

Dean Morgan also offers an advanced track of learning for accelerated learners, which feeds into the high school advanced courses and opens up opportunities for scholarships and BOCES classes.

Woven throughout all the learning, the school also focuses on promoting kindness and character development. Programs such as Challenge Day, which seeks to tear down walls of separation among students, and Mix It Up, where students are occasionally encouraged to share lunch with those other than in their normal “group” attempt to break down barriers to create a friendly and caring community of learning.

Community service plays a big role in Dean Morgan’s community of learning, too. The Clean Up Dean Morgan program is three-pronged: clean up the halls (language and behavior), clean up on bullying (50 ways to be kind and a “stick out your neck award” which results in iPod Shuffle drawings), and a physical clean-up effort (picking up trash on campus and offering services to neighbors - picking up trash in their yards, raking, etc.).

“We believe a lot in community service,” Wilcox said. “We want to develop a community of learners that know how to give back to the community. It’s about giving back, and not just taking.”

Wilcox noted that the 80-minute class blocks allow time for plenty of community work. Classes work with Meals on Wheels, the March of Dimes, the Humane Society and Hoops for Heart, to name a few.

“It seems like once a month we’re doing something for an organization,” he said.

Wilcox believes that Dean Morgan’s staff and the high focus on academics and success of each student are the formula for the school’s success, resulting in a waitlist of students eager to become Comets.

Sixth-grader Austin Wilcox thinks this must be a sure sign that his school is a good school.

“The waitlist proves it,” Austin said. “I’m guessing there’s at least a thousand on the list.”

There may not be quite “a thousand,” but there is something about Morgan that sparks interest in many. Assistant Principal Larry Meeboer may say it best (with a quote he attributes to Kelly Walsh principal Brad Diller):

“It’s not the books and the tile and the bricks,” he said. “It’s the people that work here and the kids that go to school here that makes it special.”

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