Here's how a new high school inside the former Fancher schoolhouse near Amherst aims to 'reinvent' public education
Jennifer Poyer
STOCKTON – A new public high school that will open this fall in Central Wisconsin aims to offer smaller class sizes, student-directed learning and community partnerships while helping students discover their career pathways.
Amy Boelk and Jeanne Ryan are developing Central Sands Community High School, about 6 miles west of Amherst, from the ground up. It is not an alternative school, but a tuition-free public school in its very own district. This means the school has autonomy to choose its curriculum and decide where to spend its money, but leaders also have to address state reporting, special education services, transportation, food services and nursing, all on their own. In fact, Boelk, the administrative director, is renewing her EMT certification to serve as the school's nurse.
“Being the school nurse, the director of transportation, the school administrator, the district administrator — you literally hold the role of multiple people in a district,” Boelk said. “You have to be all these people and do it from scratch.”
Talk of opening a high school based on the Waldorf philosophy of education started in 2018. Waldorf education is an arts-infused holistic approach that sees each student as a unique individual. Waldorf schools are found across the nation, including Amherst's Tomorrow River Community Charter Schools, a school that serves pre-kindergarten through eighth grade.
Boelk and Ryan took the lead in the hopes of extending Waldorf-based education to local high schoolers.
There are four teachers, an administrative director and administrative assistant set to kick off the school year.
The school is capping attendance at 25 students per grade. This year they are offering only ninth through 11th grades, but they plan to add 12th grade next year. Currently, there are 30 students enrolled from as far away as Marshfield and Wausau. Two families are moving to the area to attend the school.
The school was chartered independently through the University of Wisconsin’s Office of Educational Opportunity. In February, they applied for a federal grant through the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction and in June 2021 received an $800,000 grant. The grant money sent Boelk and Ryan into hyperdrive.
The two have been hiring a staff, recruiting students, holding informational meetings, building curriculum and bringing an old schoolhouse into the 21st century to meet the needs of today’s students.
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Students help revitalize 1934 schoolhouse
In 1970, the Fancher parochial school saw its last graduating class. This fall the two-story brick schoolhouse, built in 1934, will once again welcome students after school leaders signed a lease with the Diocese of La Crosse. The school sits next to the diocese's St. Mary of Mount Carmel Catholic Church and across from a vast field of corn.
Inside its doors, you find three levels filled with spacious classrooms, wooden staircases and plenty of space to house the new school. In the spring, the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point swim team helped clear the building of old furniture and odds and ends. This summer, students and their families helped landscape the outside, paint the inside and assemble lockers and other furniture.
“We are already hearing from students who have been volunteering at the school that it gives them a sense of ownership and pride in the space that they are helping to create, which is so gratifying to hear,” said Ryan, who serves as the social studies instructor and curriculum director.
The old classrooms have taken on new roles to deliver a modern education. The building now houses a digital arts lab, science lab, fiber optics room, mediation room, music room and a large room dedicated to woodworking and other arts students may request. Many walls and rooms remain empty awaiting student feedback as to how they should be filled.
“The students that are here the first couple of years get to build the school,” Ryan said.
Jacob Ronaldson of Weyauwega, who will be a junior this fall, shows up to help with the transition nearly everyday. He has painted walls, assembled lab tables, unpacked microscopes and much more. After two years of homeschooling, he is looking forward to meeting new people, but on a smaller scale than the usual public schools.
“I like that it’s much smaller,” he said. “In public schools you know people by reputation, not by actually knowing the person. With this school you will get to know people better.”
Tracey Ronaldson, Jacob's mom, has high hopes for the school year. She says the opportunities at the school will help him become a well-rounded person.
"There are a lot more opportunities than the average school with all the community partners, apprenticeships, internships and work experiences," she said.
Project-based learning helps student discover career pathways
With the small class sizes, teachers are able to help students develop an individual learning plan. The morning hours are dedicated to core classes, but the afternoon is dedicated to student-selected electives. Students are able to submit project proposals with their plan, questions, sources and expectations. Teachers work to facilitate their process and rely on over 100 community partners to work with the students in anything from landscaping to IT setup.
While completing the project, students learn self-assessment, research and time management and also fulfill their required state benchmarks. This capacity is what sets this public school apart from others.
“We're reinventing what a public school can be. It’s this ability to have each student meet those standards in a way that best suits them,” Boelk said. “They have a voice in what they’re learning about.”
The school is not focused on a certain pathway for students, but on the pathway the student chooses.
“If they want to go out and experience higher education classes, if they want to do a technical trade, if they want to do an apprenticeship, we have every single one of these pathways for students,” Boelk said. “And they might start in one and find out they don’t like that. It’s better to find out when you’re a 10th- or 11th-grader.”
The school also is adding social and emotional learning, restorative practice and environmental sustainability to the schedule.
Enrollment is open to any Wisconsin student in grades 9-11. Pick-up and drop-off hubs are available for transportation to and from the school. For more information or to register, visit the school’s website and Facebook page.
Contact USA TODAY NETWORK-Wisconsin reporter Jennifer Poyer at jpoyer@gannett.com.