Parents Express Interest In Danbury Magnet School

By Susan Coney

More than sixty parents turned out on Monday night for an informational session held at Reed Intermediate School to learn more about the new magnet school that will be opening this August in Danbury. Western Connecticut Academy of International Studies Elementary Magnet School promises to provide students with a rich instructional environment with enhancement and enrichment in international and global issues. The school will offer children from the school districts of Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, Newtown, and Redding a multinational education.

Dr Bonnie Lee Rabe, project coordinator for the magnet school, along with Newtown Superintendent of Schools Evan Pitkoff, met with parents to provide details about the new school and the diverse opportunities it would create for students.

 “Judging by the turnout it looks like there is a lot of interest for this kind of a school in Newtown,” Dr Rabe stated at the start of the presentation. She went on to inform parents that the new state-of-the-art facility in Danbury will be adjacent to Western Connecticut State University’s westside campus and will partner with the university as well as the Smithsonian Institute and The Jane Goodall Institute to provide numerous opportunities and programs.

 She went on to say that Danbury is a rich, culturally diverse city that provides the perfect setting for such a school. Dr Rabe pointed out that close to 60 different languages are spoken in Danbury.

The academy boasts that it will be the child’s “passport” to learning about the global community. Dr Rabe assured parents that the school enrollment will remain small, with a maximum capacity of 360 students when the program is fully developed. Each class will initially have 20 students, with the maximum number of students per class set at 23.

In the fall of 2006, the school will begin with kindergarten through fourth grade programs and add fifth grade programs in 2007-08 school year.

The goal of the academy is to provide cultural diversity. The school will engage with sister schools from other countries so that students will have the opportunity to interact through the use of advanced technology with students throughout the world.

Students will begin learning and using Spanish in kindergarten. The school will offer a dual language program pairing half of a kindergarten class with native Spanish speakers and the other half with nonnative speakers. A Spanish-speaking teacher and an English-speaking teacher will work together. They will teach half of the day in Spanish and the remaining half in English.

Students in this program will continue to move through the grades as a dual-language cohort. The goal of the dual language program is fluency in both English and Spanish by the time the student leaves the school after fifth grade. All students will receive instruction in traditional Spanish language and culture.

The school will offer an enhanced arts program, all-day kindergarten, as well as before and after school programs. Students will acquire and demonstrate developmentally appropriate mastery of core content matter. The children will apply that knowledge in contexts that relate to foreign countries, their cultures, traditions, and economies.

Dr Rabe and Dr Pitkoff assured parents that the school will meet all state and national requirements and have access to all of the resources available in all Danbury public schools.

Dr Pitkoff explained that magnet schools are theme oriented; this one will be centered around global/international studies. He said that the state puts so much money into the program and school to ensure it is successful.

Dr Pitkoff told parents that he was in on the final interviewing stages of hiring the principal. He was very pleased to state that Helena Nitowski, who is currently at Mill Ridge Intermediate School in Danbury, has been hired as the principal.

“She is great! Helena is so vibrant, she fills the room with energy when she enters it. She is tri-lingual and has experience working in both Danbury and Bethel,” the superintendent stated.

Dr Pitkoff also told parents that Newtown students attending the school would meet at a central location in Newtown where they would be bused to the Danbury school. At the end of the day the students would be bused back to that central location and catch a second bus that would transport them home.

Many parents who attended the informational session expressed the desire to provide their children with a more diverse cultural experience, saying that while Newtown schools are very good, they are also very homogenized.

Students chosen to attend the new magnet school will be selected through a lottery process. To date Danbury has received more than 700 applications for the new school. Dr Pitkoff said he was pleasantly surprised at the number of parents attending the informational session.

He later told The Bee, “Up until last night we only had ten applications, then I received several more last night and learned that others had applied earlier in the day. I guess we will have to join the lottery process to determine who will attend.”

Newtown resident Stefanie Ehnot, the mother of two children ages 5 and 8, attended the program to learn what the new school has to offer.

“My primary interest in the school is the cultural diversification and the emphasis on learning Spanish at an early age,” she said.

Newtown parent Julie Shull, the mother of twins entering the first grade next year, expressed interest in the new school, saying, “Primarily I’m looking for the diversity and the exposure to cultural diversity that they don’t get here in town. And the opportunity to be exposed to a second language.”

Applications to attend the school were due by March 3. To learn more about the school visit www.Danbury.k12.ct.us.