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Schools

Following the leader

At the Carl Sagan Academy, the curriculum sets out to educate students - and teach them how to be better citizens.

By JEFFREY S. SOLOCHEK
Published August 21, 2005

TEMPLE TERRACE - School hadn't been in session a week yet when Kelly Browning's telephone started ringing with calls from curious parents.

They wanted to know why their children had writing assignments about discipline and respect in their physical education class. What had the kids done wrong?

The executive director of the new Carl Sagan Academy, a charter school just south of Busch Gardens, explained that all education, including P.E., should have meaning. The students had not been disrespectful, Browning said: They simply are learning a lesson about the importance of attitude.

"P.E. is not just about running around blocks," she said. "It's about teaching them through athletics."

Whatever the course, the Carl Sagan Academy will attempt to instill the core philosophy of its namesake and its founding organization, the Humanists of Florida Association, that critical thinking, analysis and inquiry make for a better citizen in a democracy. Many lessons cross subject areas, and students do lots of independent research.

"The most important thing is to provide the type of environment where students feel comfortable in being inquisitive," said curriculum director Gin Kohl. "In some places, of course, asking too many questions is not a desired trait. We feel at Carl Sagan Academy . . . it is a necessary trait, because part of our curriculum is being a citizen."

For years, when Florida Humanists gathered for conferences, their conversations about how to improve society usually turned to education. Rather than remain "armchair philosophers," the group decided to act.

With support strong in Hillsborough County, the association chose to create its first charter school here, serving parts of Temple Terrace, the University Area and east Tampa. If successful, it intends to open another 14 around Florida.

Organizations are limited in Florida to running no more than 15 charter schools, which are publicly funded but freed from many operational rules governing county school districts. Since they were authorized in the mid 1990s, more than 300 charter schools have opened, and about 50 have failed.

Humanism is all about skepticism, questioning and an unwillingness to accept something just because an authority says so. It's a way of thinking that often gets criticized by religious groups that believe humans should not challenge God's will and word.

So it is somewhat surprising to find the 52-student middle school in a missionary Baptist church on E Hanna Avenue.

Browning quickly notes that she tried to open the school at the Museum of Science and Industry, but could not work out lease details. It then turned to the church, which once held a charter school that closed.

"If anything, this demonstrates that true humanism is being able to accept differences," Browning says, acknowledging that she and the church directors have had frank conversations about whether the two could coexist.

Parents and children who chose to attend the school overlook the seeming disconnect. They like the school's focus on science and the scientific method of study, its small class sizes and its location.

For most, the humanist philosophy was not key. Many have never heard of Carl Sagan, though one parent pointedly asked Browning, "Wasn't he an atheist?" He was. Shannon Jamison said she was persuaded to send her daughter, Jasmine Ralph, to the school after she met Browning.

"The way she talked, she was for the kids," said Jamison, who lives in Belmont Heights and volunteers daily at the school.

She appreciated the school's push to teach students how to learn. Jamison's two oldest children attend college, she said, and "I want my other kids to follow in their steps and ask questions and want to know."

Sixth-grader Kristopher Davis said he liked that his teachers immediately made assignments and delved into interesting course work.

"They challenge me more than my other school," he said. "They give me harder stuff, and I get to do more things at my level."

Seventh-grader DeAnna Revvere would have attended Greco Middle School, and at first was reluctant to come to the Carl Sagan Academy. Now DeAnna says she's glad she made the move.

"Most of the teachers at my old school, when they teach you stuff you've got one chance to get it right," DeAnna said. "This school, you can get individual attention for help."

Over time, the school plans to add eighth grade and to expand its course offerings to include such topics as the ethics of technology use, the Holocaust and genocide. It also will extend its relationships with the Carl Sagan Foundation and the Hayden Planetarium.

"It's really important that we empower these children ... to ask why things are this way," Browning said. "We want to model what it means to critically think. This is a challenge. It's much easier to take a book and go step by step."

Jeffrey S. Solochek can be reached at 813 269-5304 or solochek@sptimes.com

[Last modified August 19, 2005, 20:01:02]