So Many Choices…So How Do You Choose?

By Suki Wessling

This issue of Growing Up features independent schools, which includes both public and private alternatives to neighborhood public schools. If you are a parent thinking about kindergarten, or the parent of a child who is not thriving in his current school, you will find a wealth of options in Santa Cruz County. But what are these options and what do they offer that your local school can’t?

Alternative schools come in a few flavors: Charter schools are independent public schools that have their own governance structure. They are allowed to offer a varied curriculum and may require parent participation. Alternative schools and Programs of Choice are public programs established by a district to offer variety and innovation. Private schools include both religious and secular schools that operate outside of the public school system.

Though there have always been independent schools, their number has exploded in recent years due to a number of factors.

“I think that many people are growing increasingly concerned with the public education system, including both parents and teachers,” states Susanne Schwarz, Head of School of Montessori Scotts Valley, a private school. “Recent poor decisions at the federal level made by people who don't understand children's development or education have amplified these concerns, and created environments where even the very best public school teachers struggle to do their work at a level that satisfies them.”

Priscilla Smart, Principal of Ocean Alternative, a Live Oak District special program, agrees.  “I do believe the popularity of alternative schools tells us that there are problems with the public school system. Presently the biggest factor I see is the demands on public school teachers to cut their curriculum and creative offerings so they teach to the standardized tests required by states and the federal government.”

Mary Supriya McDonald of Mount Madonna School, a private secular pre-K through high school in Watsonville, admits that as a former public school teacher, she had planned to send her children to public school. “Some of us leave the public school system, and all for different reasons,” she says. “I think some common threads between us [at Mount Madonna] are families looking for a community-based school, where relationships are valued and students are taught to think of their role within the whole and question in order to discover more about themselves and others.”

Liza Morell, coordinator for the new Glen Brae Learning Community (see sidebar), wants to see more variety. “So much of the educational system is a training and accountability to prepare people to work 9 to 5,” she says.
Critics of the proliferation of independent schools point to the damage they are doing to our public school system, which loses tax dollars as well as many of its best students and most committed parents to alternatives. The very public fight between the Santa Cruz School District and Pacific Collegiate (PCS), a charter high school, has outlined the struggle for resources.

“Charter schools do sometimes put an additional burden on the comprehensive schools,” admits Curt Coleman, principal of Branciforte Small Schools, which includes four public alternative programs offered by the Santa Cruz district. But he points out that districts need to embrace choice rather than fight it. “When public alternative schools are an integrated into the overall plan of the local school district, alternative schools are a compliment, not a detriment to and an indictment of the comprehensive schools.”

The big question for most parents is, what do alternative schools offer that the neighborhood school can’t? The answer to that question is as varied as the schools we find in our county. A number of schools offer a particular curriculum, such as Montessori or Carden. Parents may choose the school based on the philosophy.

Some schools are academics-focused, such as Spring Hill Advanced Elementary, a private Santa Cruz school, or PCS. Others offer rigorous academics with a strong social component, like Mount Madonna. Charter schools often offer a particular educational focus, such as Alianza’s dual immersion or Watsonville Charter School of the Arts. Both Watsonville’s Linscott and Live Oak’s Tierra Pacifica offer a “whole child” focus missing in standard public schools that cut arts, P.E., and even science in an attempt to focus on test scores.

Private religious schools include the ability to teach from a church-based perspective. Keith Mathews, principal of St. Francis Central Coast Catholic High School, explains how religion functions in the classroom. “Contemporary ethical issues (e.g., the death penalty) are addressed within the environment of the classroom. Such education must include, where appropriate, the teaching of the Catholic Church. Each individual student must make his/her own reasoned choice, animated by the collective wisdom of Catholic teachings.”

Another reason that families choose alternatives is a search for a smaller community. “Our school focuses heavily on developing a strong sense of community, with the thought that when a student feels that they are part of a larger family they will be fully engaged in their learning experience,” explains Sinda Merritt, director of Empire Academy, a private Santa Cruz secondary school.

Finally, a common thread to alternative education is the wish to escape a cookie cutter approach to education. “All of our schools tune in to the unique passions of each individual student,” says Curt Coleman. “An example is the senior project required at the Ark and Costanoa - an in depth project that allows students to demonstrate higher level thinking, writing, and speaking skills on a topic of high interest.”

Priscilla Smart points out that homeschooling programs offer the most individualized choice. “Those that find a home at Ocean Alternative want to customize their children’s education to fit their learning styles and strengths,” she explains.

If so many schools say they’re right for you, how do you make the choice? It’s a slow, painstaking job that many parents find continues past the first school choice.

“More parents than ever are looking to educational experiences that are rich, creative and flexible enough to meet students’ needs that don’t put them in the box of “standards only” learning,” says Priscilla Smart.

Finding what you need means looking hard at your choices. Just be thankful that in Santa Cruz County, we have so many.


Suki Wessling is a local writer and the mother of two children.