Hernando: A school meant to shatter the mold

First, there is the building under construction, rising like a behemoth from the sand along California Street just north of the Hernando County Airport.

Then there is Nature Coast Tech as it exists inside the head of Tizzy Schoelles, who will be the school's principal. With no students and no other staffers as yet, Schoelles is Nature Coast Tech in its human form.

And just like the construction site, the principal is abuzz with activity. Mostly, Schoelles is busy piecing together ideas for what she calls "the school of tomorrow," scheduled to open in fall 2003.

It is a school where rows of chairs will not be the norm in most classrooms. Of course, the school's high-tech labs, some outfitted with $250,000 in machinery, will look different. But tables for small-group discussions will be more the norm even in academic classrooms. And, in some cases, students may sit in "soft centers," nooks with a couch and chairs.

It's a school where an archive of CD-ROMs will carry lessons that human teachers will not have to teach over and over. Instead, the student could simply plop a disc into a computer and watch an expert deliver the goods.

It's a school where students will routinely be forced to cross disciplines -- biology, history, math, English, whatever -- to produce research papers that smoothly blend those subjects.

And it's a school where eventually students will get so comfortable with manufacturing and design, Schoelles hopes, that they will seek patents on new inventions and market them outside the school.

Schoelles, who says John F. Kennedy was her favorite "education" president, has a vision for Hernando County's next high school that is nearly as ambitious as putting a man on the moon.

"I would like John F. Kennedy to walk into Nature Coast Technical High School and not recognize it as a school," Schoelles said.

Research will rule at Nature Coast

What Schoelles wants to do is turn traditional high school education on its ear.

She wants to give students some measure of control over the pace of their learning and the subjects they explore. Teachers, then, aren't so much sources of knowledge as partners in learning.

She wants her library to celebrate knowledge. If she could swing it, you could almost see her turn the place into a Barnes & Noble -- overstuffed chairs, cappuccino machine and all.

At the least, librarians must be both connoisseurs of literature and research gurus who can help students judge the validity of Internet sources they find. After all, this is a school where research will rule.

And Schoelles envisions a school where computers are not confined to a lab or tucked away in a corner, but made an integral part of everyday learning. Free-floating laptops will be just as important as the PCs plugged into the wall.

Above all, Schoelles wants learning to be real.

You get the feeling she might flog the first teacher whose students have to ask how their classwork applies to the real world.

"Authenticity is typically what's missing in some of our antiquated methods," Schoelles said. "If it's authentic, it's rigorous. And students are engaged. And if they are engaged, learning goes off the charts."

Superintendent Wendy Tellone says she supports Schoelles' vision for Nature Coast. School Board member Jim Malcolm, who is something of a protective parent where Nature Coast is concerned, likes the sound of it, too.

"I haven't heard a thing I didn't agree with yet," Malcolm said. "She has outlined a very ambitious and challenging model."

Schoelles says there are pockets of teachers around the county now who require real-world problem solving and projects that cross disciplines, and who deftly integrate technology.

But she wants those themes to permeate Nature Coast, to be built into its "culture."

When Schoelles starts selling her school to potential students in August, she is betting her vision will speak to these children of "Generation Y" -- which she defines as the technically savvy crowd that followed Generation X.

She says these are kids who have grown up buying books, CDs and clothes on the Internet; who are more likely to use e-mail than stationery, and who comparison shop on the home pages of e-businesses.

As Schoelles sees it, her school is made for students who want to explore things for themselves and tackle new challenges. "I think that is a concept they will embrace," she said.

Training follows career paths

Schoelles says she knows that not every student wants to go to college. She also says there are fulfilling jobs for those kids -- here in Hernando County, no less -- with fabulous pay scales.

To that end, career exploration will be one of the school's basic functions.

That said, Nature Coast will also serve students heading to community or technical colleges and four-year universities. She says the school's technical emphasis can help students on any path.

Law enforcement courses, for example, will touch on everything short of weapons training. But their key elements -- investigative skills, people skills and the law -- would serve students whether they want to be trial lawyers or road deputies.

In the same vein, genetics projects would be relevant to students in the turf management program who might be trying to develop hybrid grasses or new types of landscaping flowers.

The school's attention to carpentry, heating and air conditioning, manufacturing and software applications has forced Schoelles, now the principal at Suncoast Elementary School, into some new territories.

She has visited the county's industrial sites to see how they train workers. She has gone to trade shows to check out tools and equipment, leaning heavily on manufacturers and business leaders for advice on how to outfit labs and in drawing up job descriptions for specialists.

And it has begun to pay off. Already, Schoelles can talk the talk about pneumatic drills, ceiling trusses and the process for molding liquid plastic.

"She asks the right questions about the equipment, what kind of program should come with it and how progress could be measured," said Jesse Sims, president of Sims Machine and Controls Inc. and a member of the county manufacturers association.

"I think she has done a real good job," Sims said.

County sales tax funds tech vision

Although the school's personality may come from Schoelles, its substance isn't her creation alone. Most of the programs were chosen by a team of educators, working in concert with local manufacturers, who have been crying out for a tech school for years.

The School Board, who heard the cry, shifted some additional job programs from the county's other high schools when it decided Nature Coast still wasn't different enough.

And county voters agreed to pay the freight for the whole package in 1998, when they approved a half-cent sales tax for five years.

Schoelles, 43, was tapped as the school's principal two years ago. She will leave Suncoast for good in July to devote herself entirely to the job.

But Schoelles, who has the aim-for-the-stars idealism of a first-year teacher, had to give in to some political realities last week.

Schoelles said 600 students, freshmen and sophomores only, would be the ideal starting number on opening day. But the School Board, wanting relief from overcrowding at Springstead and Central high schools sooner rather than later, said the school should open with 1,200 -- including juniors and seniors.

Schoelles says she will make it work.

Malcolm, whose vigilance on Nature Coast is a direct result of the enormous amount of political capital the board spent to get voter support for the sales tax, believes her.

"She certainly has cut out a vision for herself, a challenging one," Malcolm said. "If anyone can get it done, she can. That's what's going to make that school a success."

-- Robert King covers education in Hernando County and can be reached at 754-6127. Send e-mail to rking@sptimes.com.

Keeping tabs on Tech

Anyone interested in following the development of Nature Coast Technical High School can do so at the school's Web site: www.hcsb.k12.fl.us/nct.

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