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CMSD students move to MetroHealth classrooms

MetroHealth1
 
CMSD NEWS BUREAU
9/6/2016
 
History was made Tuesday when 46 sophomores began spending a majority of their class time at the MetroHealth System’s main campus.

The new Lincoln-West School of Science and Health is believed to be the first school in the country based in a hospital. The school occupies classrooms in a former training area that MetroHealth renovated after hospital and District staff spent months designing the school's concept.

MetroHealth leaders applauded and gave high-fives to the sophomores as they entered an adjacent atrium for breakfast and a formal welcome ceremony. Administrators referred to the students as part of MetroHealth’s “family” and said the partnership with CMSD fits well with the hospital system’s mission.MetroHealth2

“It’s going to be an important reminder for us why we do this work,” Dr. Akram Boutros, MetroHealth’s president and CEO, said as he roamed from classroom to classroom, chatting with students and staff. “In health care, we often focus on the immediate; here we are investing long term in children."

The Cleveland Plan, a customized blueprint for reform, calls for creating a variety of school models so students and families can find the right fit. Science and Health is one of two new models that opened July 25 at Lincoln-West High School and will operate year round on a schedule of roughly 10 weeks in class, followed by a three-week break. 

Carnegie Corporation of New York provided money to launch Science and Health and the other model, the Lincoln-West School of Global Studies. Science and Health began with ninth- and 10th-graders; Global Studies opened with freshmen.

Science and Health currently has 126 students between the two grades. Principal Christopher Thompson said the goal is to expand to a full high school with 100 to 125 students per grade level.

Science and Health’s 10th-graders will attend classes at MetroHealth from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday. The ninth-graders will report there one day a month.

The school’s curriculum will not limit students’ options for college and future employment, but staff will provide mentoring and help them explore careers available in the health-care industry – from accounting to security to marketing to medical practice. Thompson likened the experience to taking a field trip every day.

Students said the setting would help them focus on their schoolwork.

“I feel like it’s maturing us,” said Chantyne Petty, who dreams of becoming a psychiatrist, perhaps working with children. “We’re in a professional environment.”

“It’s exciting,” said Mario Wilson, who hopes to become a neurologist. “We’re the first of our kind. We’re going to get a wide variety of networking and experiences.”

The Cleveland Plan, a customized blueprint for reform, calls for creating a variety of school models so students and families can find the right fit. 

Science and Health is one of two new models that opened July 25 at Lincoln-West High School and will operate year round on a schedule of roughly 10 weeks in class, followed by a three-week break.

Carnegie Corporation of New York provided money to launch Science and Health and the Lincoln-West School of Global Studies. Science and Health began with ninth- and 10th-graders; Global Studies opened with freshmen.

Science and Health currently has 126 students between the two grades. Thompson said the goal is to expand to a full high school with 100 to 125 students per grade level.