Sunday, May 02, 1999

A school made from scratch

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Creation is more than construction

BY CHRISTINE WOLFF
The Cincinnati Enquirer

        ANDERSON TOWNSHIP — Michael Stabile has been principal for eight months of a school he just recently could begin walking through.

        There wasn't a floor for a while, nor a roof nor walls at Mr. Stabile's new workplace — Nagel Middle School, under construction and set to open this fall at Nagel and State roads.

        But lack of a building doesn't mean thumb-twiddling for the principal. He's spent the months creating what he calls “a premier middle school for the 21st century.”

        “The thing is to get it right when the kids walk through the doors,” Mr. Stabile said. “This has been the opportunity of a lifetime.”

        The Forest Hills School District hired Nagel's principal in August 1998 — “probably the best investment we've made,” said Superintendent John Patzwald.

        “Hiring a year in advance was the only way to ensure the opportunity for success in changing the mind-set about what occurs in seventh- and eighth-grade,” Mr. Patzwald said. “He has brought a school community together.”

        Since arriving from Glenwood, Ill., Mr. Stabile put together Nagel's teaching and administrative staffs, and worked on design and construction details. A Parent Teacher Association has been formed, and future Nagel students have selected the school's silver-and-blue colors and its Nighthawk mascot.

        His most important work, Mr. Stabile said, has been molding Nagel's curriculum and its philosophy to the needs of adolescents.

        With 1,350 seventh- and eighth-graders expected — now taught at the district's two crowded high schools — Nagel will be the second-largest school among Forest Hills' nine buildings. District enrollment is 7,863.

        It will house an age group — roughly 10-14 year olds — that educators recognize as needing special attention developmentally, academically and socially.

        “"Middle school' is not just a name ... not a checklist. It's more a philosophy,” said Jack Berckemeyer, with the Colum bus-based National Middle School Association. The 25-year-old organization estimates that schools embracing the middle-school philosophy have increased to 14,000 nationwide, with traditional junior high schools shrinking to about 1,500-2,000.

        Junior high schools usually are modeled after high schools, Mr. Stabile said, with students changing classrooms and subjects by following a rigid schedule. Instruction is textbook oriented, with students spending much of the time listening to teachers. Teachers often are isolated within subject areas.

        A middle school is more student-centered, Mr. Stabile said, with flexible scheduling that allows creative teaching within large blocks of time. Teachers form teams, which are given authority to make decisions about instruction. Subjects are linked to show, for example, how science and math connect.

        At Nagel, “teachers and learning drive the schedule. There will be no bells,” said Mr. Stabile, who, when hired by Forest Hills, was changing the Illinois school where he was principal from a junior high into a middle school.

        Nagel students will be issued day-planner notebooks to teach them to be organized.

        A core belief at Nagel hinges on linking each youngster with an adviser to meet with them at the beginning and end of each school day.

        “Every student should be known well by at least one adult,” Mr. Stabile said.

        The Nagel philosophy, outlined by Mr. Stabile at meetings for parents, is an exciting concept, said Mary Sallee, whose sixth-grade daughter will be in the charter class.

        “I'm thrilled — I think it will be a wonderful experience for her,” Mrs. Sallee said. “These students are in a transitional period, from childhood to teen-ager. It is a special-needs group.”

        Mr. Stabile's goal for Nagel: “That every kid can't wait to get out of bed and get to school every day.”

       

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