It was a mild, late summer day outside One City School, and a group of young scholars were creating their own world.
“We’re building our own house!” one said. “We’re using what we find around us and making it the way we like it.”
Students create their own imaginary world, using nature, during outdoor recess at One City School in Madison.
This, in a way, encapsulates the secret recipe that many Madison charter schools use to create environments that don’t fit a traditional educational model. To explore what that looks like, photographers Hedi Rudd and Ruthie Hauge recently visited three local charter schools.
Badger Rock Middle School, open since 2011 on the city’s south side, came first. One City Schools opened its doors with a preschool four years ago and plans to expand to grades 4K-12 by fall 2024. Milestone Democratic School opened on Dairy Drive in 2020.
Sarai feeds the school chickens using corn students ground by hand during garden class at Badger Rock Middle School in Madison.
Asher Parish plays pool with a friend in the lobby of Milestone Democratic School as the school day begins.
Charles Dean of Wisconsin Martial Arts and Fitness Center leads students in martial arts, as one student double checks his expectations at One City School in Madison.
During garden class, one of the tasks of students is to gather eggs laid by the school chickens chickens at Badger Rock Middle School on the South side of Madison. The eggs are then sold at the Badger Rock Community Market.
During garden class, students take turns grinding corn, which was grown at Badger Rock Middle School, to use in arepas.
Each school has its own flavor and culture. All of them center student and family voices, as well as community collaboration, to achieve their goals.
One calling card of Badger Rock Middle School is a collaboration with a nonprofit called Rooted, which built the building and urban farm at 501 E. Badger Road. In late 2020, the Madison Metropolitan School District purchased the building and land.
At Badger Rock, students learn about the intersection of food, social justice and sustainability. In cooperation with the Badger Rock Neighborhood Center (where Rudd is the director), youth employees — all former Badger Rock students — staff the neighborhood center's weekly market, which features produce grown and harvested by current students.
Badger Rock and Rooted host a free monthly community dinner all year ’round. And Rooted staff teach a garden class, during which students learn how to operate a small urban farm, including beekeeping and chickens.
Students entering Integrated Arts are reminded of who they are when they walk in the door at One City School in Madison.
Winnie the emotional support dog at Badger Rock Middle School watches students as they walk to classes on the first day of the school year.
Students Ameilia and Harper chat as they get ready for the Spanish class at Badger Rock Middle School on the South side of Madison.
Teacher Chris Bester gives Khali Mason a haircut on picture day at One City School in Madison. The school will have an in-house barber and beauty shop for student use.
One City Schools officially became an independent charter school in 2018 and recently moved to a new campus in Monona, in a building that formerly housed offices for WPS Health Insurance. The new building will be named for its largest donor, Pleasant T. Rowland, when renovations and construction are complete.
In the future, the building will feature a barber/beauty shop, a recording studio and dedicated space for physical fitness, with community partners who teach music, physical education and technology. Summit Credit Union will also have a branch located in the building.
One City Schools founder Kaleem Caire councils student Dre Bell in the hallway outside of the cafeteria at One City School in Madison.
Students are taught knife skills and safety as they make their first batch of salsa during garden class at Badger Rock Middle School on the South side of Madison.
Bonnie Greene, founder of Madison Music Makers, teaches a strings class at One City School in Madison.
Students take a basketball break in the parking lot of Milestone Democratic School. Students may take breaks whenever they see fit.
One City sets high behavioral expectations and requires students to wear uniforms. Under the leadership of Kaleem Caire and staff, it has an unapologetic focus on the success of Black and brown children in a diverse and family-focused school community.
Both One City and Milestone operate through authorization from the University of Wisconsin System’s Office of Educational Opportunity. Badger Rock is one of two charters authorized by MMSD and is considered a district school.
Students are encouraged to use their imaginations, using the things to which they have access and to take risks during outdoor play at One City School in Madison.
Caitlin Hussey from the Bike Federation of Wisconsin prepares students to use bikes that the schools received through a Riding for Focus grant from the Specialized Foundation at Badger Rock Middle School on the South side of Madison.
Keena Atkinson leads a meditation academy for young students on the top floor of the parking structure at One City School in Madison.
Justice Coordinator and educator Alexis Gardner works in the makerspace at Milestone Democratic School. Students decide what to do in the space, what equipment they'd like to have there and how to obtain it.
Milestone Democratic School is the newest charter school in Madison, and it’s known for student-led learning. “Democratic learning” means that students are treated as equals with the administrators and “community partners” who teach them skills. They decide when class is, how long lunch is, and when they need a break.
Students learn in small groups in spaces that include sewing machines, virtual reality headsets and construction equipment as well as laptops. Each student has a learning budget and an advisor, with whom they work to create their own learning plan.
Charter schools have been politically divisive, as critics feel they pull resources away from traditional public schools and are held to different standards. But in their ideal form, they can provide unique learning opportunities while testing new approaches that public schools may adopt if they’re successful.
Encouraging messages are posted throughout One City School in Madison.
Students gather to eat the fresh food they prepared using ingredients from the garden at Badger Rock Middle School in Madison.
Classrooms at One City School in Madison have hallway windows and are decorated in a way that is intended to be welcoming to students.
Students participate in Project Lead the Way class where they learn how to use engineering to solve global problems at One City School in Madison.
Portrait of Hedi Rudd.
ABOUT THE GUEST PHOTOGRAPHER | HEDI RUDD
Hedi Rudd is the director of Badger Rock Neighborhood Center and deputy director of south Madison programs for Rooted. She is an avid community photographer and writer, and her work has been featured in UMOJA Magazine, Capital City Hues, Madison365 and Love Wisconsin. Rudd is a proud alumnus of the UW Madison Odyssey Project and WARF’s Upstart program and is a member of the Community Shares of Wisconsin board of directors. She is also a member of the Madison Food Policy Council, Overture Center’s Community Advisory Council and the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art board of trustees.
Rudd’s grandson Khali Mason was in the first class of One City students. To see more of her work, the South Madison Partnership Space currently has an exhibit featuring her photographs of south Madison.
