Articles

City High’s big move

Category: 'Y' Published on Wednesday, 16 November 2011 10:49 Written by Courier Newsroom

by Chauleaqua Washington

With City High Charter High School in its 10th year of existence much will be changing this school year, from the location of the school to the senior class curriculum that should better the school overall.

City High, located on Liberty Avenue in the Clark building, will be moving January 2012 to its new location at the Verizon building on Stanwix Street. That will not be the only change, however. Healthier lunches and more space will be introduced to students.

DRAY COTTINGHAM IN FRONT OF CITY HIGH (Photo by J.L. Martello)

“The school is being moved for two reasons,” Mario Zinga, school co-founder, said. “The main reason is the school needs (more) space.” He said, even though the school would have gotten more floors if it had stayed in the old building, they believed that the move was best, because they would have had to split up each grade on separate floors if they had stayed.

Now that there is more space, more changes are underway. Zinga said City High is introducing a new curriculum that will change the definition for the senior year. All students in the senior class will be given their own personal desk, bookshelf and file cabinet. Classrooms will be eliminated. In their place will be Independent studies, lectures and seminars will take their place in a lecture hall or seminar room where 15 to 20 students will gather. Administrators believe this will give students a preview of college and the work place. Wanting students to experience this type of environment, the curriculum has finally been set in place after 10 years of wanting to do so, he said.

With seniors at City High experiencing a new curriculum many have mixed feelings towards the change. “I need teachers and without them I know I will slack. I think as a class we need the guidance,” says junior Taylor Knight. But not everyone feels this way. Another junior, Damian Roberts, says, “I think I will like it because we have everything we need from seminars, lectures and our independent time. We also still have our electives and that’s the things that we want to do.”

In addition to the change of the curriculum, an auditorium will be built which will hold lectures, presentations and possible drama performances.

Zinga said, a bigger cafeteria will be able to hold all students at the given lunch times; not only more space but better lunches will be served. He said healthier lunches will be provided that will be prepared by chefs, instead of the packaged re-heatable lunches that are served in the cafeteria now.

Other alternatives have been made in case the January move does not occur. If the renovations to the new building are not done by the end of this year, City High will not make the move until April, said Principle Richard Wertheimer.