CULTIVATING A DYNAMIC EDUCATION
North of San Francisco, in a town surrounded by rolling hills striped with mustard flowers and old vines, a new school is cultivating young minds. Planting the seeds of confidence, creativity, flexibility, and curiosity; of freedom, responsibility, community and environment, this school is breaking new educational ground.
Blue Oak School, founded in 2002, is a progressive school, the first, and only, independent school in Napa County.
Blue Oak’s student body has grown steadily, more than doubling in size in six years. In 2008-09, the school enrolls 182 students in grades K-8. The first eighth grade class graduated in 2007.
What does it mean to be a progressive school? One way to explain Blue Oak’s unique nature is to read the web page that defines the “educational peak experience” of its faculty:
Teaching at Blue Oak School
...There is an excitement and profound sense of accomplishment that comes from participating in the beginnings of a new school. Teachers at Blue Oak School are involved in creating and decision making that rarely happens in a more established school. They enjoy an “educational peak experience,” while working in close cooperation to create and provide a quality education for their students.
Blue Oak School is innovative and progressive in its orientation to teaching. The bottom line always being, “What’s best for the children?” Teachers who are good observers of children, who care deeply about meeting the needs of each child and who stay on top of the best practices in education thrive in this environment.... read more
Blue Oak School’s Director of Admission Brenda Duyan recounted a few details around the school’s evolution, and its growing relationship with inRESONANCE, during a January 2009 interview.
“Blue Oak School is a startup school,” Duyan began. “My husband, Scott, had previously founded a middle school division of the American School in Tokyo, where grades 7-12 were housed together. What followed next were 13 wonderful years at The Catlin Gabel School in Portland, Oregon. Then he was approached to start Blue Oak. It was every educator’s dream (well, some might see it as a nightmare), to create something new in a small community that had no history or experience of independent schools.”
Duyan credits Scott with defining the school’s criteria for teacher success: “If you are considering applying to teach in a progressive school, you have to understand what you’re coming to and why. If this document really resonates with you, then you are drawn to work here. If, after reading it, your response is, ‘Are you kidding me? This is a lot more work than I want to do!’ then Blue Oak is probably not the place for you.
“There are no textbooks at Blue Oak. Our teachers create the curriculum—it is dynamic, not at all static. We don’t give grades and we don’t have textbooks. We do teach our eighth graders how to take standardized tests, but we don’t give them. Our students take tests on materials they have studied and worked on. The goal of the test is to see if the students understand the material; if they don’t, then we’ll go back at it. We’re building a foundation of skills that can be applied to a range of content. To be a real learner, you have to develop a skill base base that helps you as things keep changing. Testing should determine whether you’re learning how to learn.”
Service learning is another emphasis for students at Blue Oak School, where outreach supports a commitment to “explore what it means to be stewards of their immediate communities.” Two good examples are reported in the school newsletter:
Reach Out and Read
Making literacy a part of pediatric care
Sharon Bontrager, Blue Oak School Spanish teacher for grades K-6, applied for a Gasser Foundation grant in support of Middle School Spanish students and their participation in the Reach Out and Read® program at Napa’s community health center, Clinic Ole. Reach Out and Read (ROR) is a national, non-profit organization working to make literacy promotion a standard part of pediatric primary care, so children grow up with books and a love of reading.
Blue Oak School partners with Bay Institute to Restore Sonoma Baylands
“Making a difference is hard work”
Blue Oak School students have many opportunities to learn about and participate in environmental sustainability. At almost every grade level, students participate in field trips that take them into nature to explore, understand and appreciate the natural world around them and the importance of preserving it. One such program is the Bay Institute’s STRAW Project, which involves students in watershed restoration activities....This year, students will participate in a day of salt marsh restoration. This work will help restore habitat for many species living in the marsh...The work is hard, and in the words of Middle School teacher Carwai Seto, “The work drives home the fact that making a difference is hard work. It takes effort, commitment, knowledge and teamwork.”
Brenda Duyan had always served at the schools where Scott has worked, as a resource in the classrooms, as part of the admissions team, and as a liaison to parents. It wasn’t long after Scott began his work to build Blue Oak that Brenda was tapped to head Admissions. PORTAL by inRESONANCE was the second database solution chosen for Admissions.
Duyan explained her dissatisfaction with their original choice: “Initially, we installed a system from a different vendor, because it had been the database at the previous schools where we worked. They were much bigger schools. I did not like that particular system, but I didn’t know why. It was a cumbersome, unfortunate database. It was not until I attended the Crow’s Nest Institute for Admission Professionals in Maine that I was able to define it; the most burning question I had at the Crow’s Nest was ‘Why don’t I like that database?’ I came to understand that it was not user friendly, it was not easy to manipulate data. It wasn’t changeable. I was not able to make it work for this new school.
“The best example I can give of why inRESONANCE is right for us, is to refer you to the ‘testing’ page I created in PORTAL. It looks nothing like it did when we bought it. It’s completely customized for our needs.
“Blue Oak School is a progressive school. All those numbers and test scores in the original PORTAL solution were not of use to us, the screen didn’t work for me. So I changed it. I had received training from our iR implementation specialist, Dottie, and I attended iRU. As Susan McAllister was leading us through the PORTAL training at iRU, it dawned on me that the layout tools seemed familiar.
I said, “This is just like ClarisWorks.” And Susan paused her presentation and looked at me, saying, “Yes. It is. Just like ClarisWorks.”
“I began to redesign a testing page the way I wanted it, right then. I had it going in my brain. I was able to customize the entire testing page myself. Now I use it as part of the Parent Interview. During the student visit, our teachers complete an evaluation form with check boxes. I translate their evaluations into the new testing page, and an individualized profile of the prospective student is ready by the time I meet with the parents. I print it out and share it with the parents right there.”
Blue Oak has a small Admission staff, and every efficiency is significant. “We have a quarter-time person, who does data entry,” Duyan explained. “But otherwise, I am the Admission office.
“We are a small school that acts like a big school. We benefit from the intimacy of a small community, but our communications are professional and high end. It used to take me a long time to prepare my contracts. With PORTAL, the process is much faster. I look forward to learning to make even better use of the software, but even at my current skill level, I appreciate how smooth the process is. I can format documents and reports, print labels, go in and find the information I need.
“PORTAL saves me time. The reports are easy, and quick finds are really helpful. When I get a question from the head of school, I can zap answers right back to him, it’s really great.”
Duyan looks forward to learning more. “I belong to the Bay Area Directors of Admission (BADA) group, and I know that quite a few member schools use iR. I’m lobbying to have an iR refresher day in San Francisco. I have one more comment about support: I don’t have an IT person. I love being able to go to the iR help wiki, but my preference is to work directly with my iR support person. I count on talking to Dottie. It means a lot to me to build a relationship with one person. Dottie knows me, she knows the school. It’s nice to build a relationship and count on face-to-face support. Support from our previous database company was terrible. I need someone to hold my hand.”
Learn more about Blue Oak School.
Update: By spring 2009, eight years after his arrival, Scott Duyan had decided the time had come to leave Blue Oak School and seek a new adventure. Brenda stepped down, leaving the Admissions office in the capable hands of Christopher Bezsylko. Hal Hensler, Head of Blue Oak Middle School, will follow Duyan as Interim Head of School.
The school’s press release announcing the change in leadership included this statement from Board Chair Tim Rodgers: “Scott Duyan has been a remarkable Founding Head of School. Every independent school dreams of becoming an educational institution that transforms lives. Scott has made that dream a reality for Blue Oak School. During his tenure the School has grown from a fledgling K-4 institution to a K-8 school boasting two campuses and an enrollment of 182 students. He has created a legacy of children that are engaged and passionate learners. His deep commitment to education, diversity and the mission of the School has benefited not only our children, but our parent body and the larger Napa community as well. We are extremely grateful for his dedication, leadership and service. We are all reaping the rewards of his efforts and we cannot thank him enough for all he has done for Blue Oak School.”