KnowledgeWorks Foundation Announces Winner of 2005 ‘Schools As Centers of Community: A National Search for Excellence’

WASHINGTON, Oct. 8 /PRNewswire/ — KnowledgeWorks Foundation announced last night that Hudson High School in Hudson, Massachusetts is the winner of the Richard W. Riley Award for Excellence. Additionally, the school will receive a $5,000 award at the National Summit for School Design, hosted by both the KnowledgeWorks Foundation and the American Architectural Foundation in Washington, D.C., October 6-8.

“When we talk about Great Schools by Design, we are not just talking about physical structures,” said Chad Wick, president and CEO of KnowledgeWorks Foundation. “One thing we recognized long ago was that school buildings themselves have an enormous impact not only on the quality of the education that occurs within their walls, but on the communities of which they are an important part.”

The Richard W. Riley Award, named for former U.S. Secretary of Education, is presented to the school that best exemplifies the growing trend to build schools as centers of community – schools that are open to community use and collaborate with community resources that support student and community success.

Unlike traditional design competitions, the Foundation’s national search took a unique slant and developed criteria that placed a strong emphasis on community engagement, the design of the facility for community use, and community partnerships.

Hudson High School was unanimously selected from over thirty schools that sent in applications by a distinguished panel of nine judges. “The Hudson Public Schools is very proud to be honored by KnowledgeWorks and the American Architecture Foundation and to receive this distinguished award,” said Sheldon Berman, Superintendent, Hudson Public Schools. “We have placed a priority on designing our high school to not only welcome the community but to create a sense of community among students, faculty and parents and to model for students what it means to be contributing member of the community.”

Hudson High School is a state-of-the-art high school built in 2002 and located in Hudson, Massachusetts. It serves 1,083 students in grades 8-12. Several unique features of the school captured the attention of the judges including:

    * The prevailing theme at Hudson High is “What is an individual’s      responsibility for creating a just society?” From the curriculum of the      students down to the design of the school facility all is focused on      fostering responsibility, building community, democratic governance      among the students and the community of Hudson.     * As the curriculum was based on clusters, a new school building designed      in 2002 to facilitate this cluster model and building of community.      However, since Hudson does not have a community center, a performing      arts center, or athletic facilities of any kind, the school      administration also sought the input of community organizations, such      as the Hudson Senior Center and the Hudson Arts Alliance to create a      school building accessible to all the community.  The school was      designed to facilitate both the cluster model of the school and the      various entities of the local community.     * As a result of the innovative character of Hudson High School’s efforts      to support civic engagement and character development, it has been      recognized as a First Amendment School, a National Service-Learning      Leader School and a National School of Character.   

“Hudson High School has a creative design, academic focus and service- learning,” said Ronald Bogle, president of the American Architectural Foundation and one of the judges. “It has service learning and the school reaches out into community and it has its young people going out into the community. The kids are able to learn in context.”

Eight other schools from across the country were also selected by the judges to become part of the Foundation’s “Schools as Centers of Community Honor Society.” These schools and Hudson High School will become part of a new design “gallery” hosted by the Foundation at http://www.nationalschoolsearch.org/.

“The schools that have been selected for the Honor Society are all models of excellence when it comes to reaching out to the community,” said Wick. “If you want to put the public back into public education a good place to start is to open up the facilities to the community and really make them community learning centers for people of all ages.”

   Schools as Centers of Community Honor Society Members    Charles R. Drew Charter School, Atlanta, GA   DC Bilingual Public Charter School, Washington, DC   Fruit Valley Community Learning Center, Vancouver, WA   Greenman Elementary, Aurora, IL   Lake High School, Uniontown, OH   The Mirabal Sisters Campus, New York, NY   Thomas Edison Community School, Port Chester, NY   Truman High School, Federal Way, WA   

KnowledgeWorks Foundation is Ohio’s largest public education philanthropy. KnowledgeWorks Foundation provides funding and leadership for education initiatives throughout the state and is focused on creating and improving educational opportunities. The Foundation is committed to sharing knowledge gained and lessons learned with others in Ohio and across the nation to help inform public policy. Learn more about KnowledgeWorks Foundation at http://www.kwfdn.org/.

KnowledgeWorks Foundation

CONTACT: Emily Hedrick (513) 929-1132, (513) 265-5709

Web site: http://www.kwfdn.org/