A Dozen Schools Invite Parents to Look Them Over

By LINDA BORG Journal Staff Writer

School Choice Nights are meant to help parents decide which secondary school is best for their child.

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PROVIDENCE – A mother and her 13-year-old son walk through the formidable entrance to Hope High School. Suddenly, four teenage girls wearing matching T-shirts surround and pepper them with hellos and how are yous.

Before long, the family is escorted downstairs to Hope’s Arts Academy, one of three smaller schools, each with its own faculty and theme. The girls whisk them into a darkened theater, where a half- dozen students are performing a play called An Artist’s Nightmare.

Then the group enters the art studio. There, the students do all the talking. One young man shows off his portfolio of calligraphy — cartoons in the graphic novel vein. He talks about the courses he is taking at the Rhode Island School of Design, which has a partnership with Hope High School, and says he hopes to attend RISD’s pre- college program.

This year, Providence is trying something new. High schools and middle schools are opening their doors to parents on School Choice Nights. In the past, these events were held at one high school or one middle school. This week and next, parents will have an opportunity to visit each of the city’s secondary schools to see which is best for their child.

As its model, Providence is using the college visit, where students can tour the campus, see what programs are offered and meet with fellow students. Last night, four high schools — Hope, Feinstein, E3 and the Textron Chamber of Commerce Academy — held School Choice Nights.

Michelle Almonte is impressed. An alumna of the high school, she says this is not the Hope she remembers. This is not the Hope High School whose reputation was defined by what it wasn’t — as in, it wasn’t safe, it wasn’t orderly, it wasn’t high-performing.

“I feel now that they are using the whole school,” she says. “Everywhere you go, you see teachers in the classroom. You see students smiling. I want my son to see that Hope isn’t hopeless.”

Almonte’s oldest son, Franklin Sarit, is a sophomore at Hope. His younger brother, Franklin Vargas, is thinking about going here. He also visited E3, a new, smaller high school — but if his mother has her way, he will attend Hope next year.

More than half of Hope’s 100 teachers turned out for Choice Night. What is even more striking is that almost as many students were there. The Junior ROTC students, members of the Leadership Academy, were wearing their uniforms. The Arts Academy students were wearing tie-died T-shirts.

The students say they came, on a night when they could have been doing so many other things, because they are proud of their school, the new Hope.

“This year is the best,” says Maureen Baumann, a senior.

“Mr. Montague, he’s always telling us to carry ourselves with dignity. He’s strict, you know, but he really cares,” she says, referring to Wayne Montague, principal of the Leadership Academy.

Her sister, Marlene Baumann, 16, feels the same way.

“It feels like a whole new school,” she says. “Kids are more focused. Their attitude is improving. I tell my brother, ‘Ben, you need to come to Hope.’ “

In Nancy Walwood’s U.S. history class, a parent asks why American teenagers know so little about the rest of the world. Abdoulie Touray is visiting Hope with his two daughters, Fatou, 13, and Amina, 10.

He has his doubts about Hope, but hears that the school is making progress. His children are also looking at E3 and the Cooley Health, Science and Technology Academy, another new, smaller high school.

Walwood talks to him about her junior debate team, which is currently discussing abortion. She shows him the newspaper articles that her class did on the topic of imperialism. She points out persuasive essays on globalization based on a curriculum developed by Brown University.

Upstairs, Mary Markey shows a short video she has made about the Leadership Academy, where she teaches. The theme song is “I Believe I Can Fly” by R. Kelly. As the images of enthusiastic students fly across the screen, students drift into the darkened room.

“Look at those faces,” Markey says.

“It makes me want to cry,” says Montague, the Leadership Academy principal.

Before long, both teachers and students are singing to the music.

Tomorrow, open houses will be held at Central, Cooley Health, Science and Technology Academy, the Providence Academy of International Studies and the Harrison Street School, from 6 to 8 p.m.

Thursday night, Mount Pleasant, Classical and Del Sesto will open their doors, and on Feb. 8, Times2 Academy will hold its Choice Night, also from 6 to 8 p.m.