International School (Bellevue, Washington)
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International School (IS) is a 6-12th grade school in the Bellevue School District founded by six Bellevue teachers in 1990. The founding teachers were: Rick Hart, Patricia McLean, Rita Lowy, Bruce Saari, Terry LaRussa Banton and Karen Kurle. After winning a competitive $300,000 grant from the "Schools for the 21st Century" commission, the six were granted a half year of release time to continue to develop the program, recruit families, and open with 150 sixth and seventh graders in the fall of 1990.
Called an optional school, but considered to be an alternative school, it offers a special seven year, seven subject curriculum, in which students take seven years of humanities (language arts), international studies, math, science, PE/health and fine arts. Additionally, students study a foreign language, French or German, for seven years, with the intention of achieving fluency, and ultimately studying subjects such as literature, history and social studies in, that language .
Furthermore, in their senior year, students are put through a rigorous project known as "Senior Project". This project is so intense that an entire class has been dedicated to it. Its results have been so positive that the rest of the Bellevue School District has adopted it into its curriculum.
Students of the International School, none of whom are enrolled in occupational education classes, also participate in a week-long activity of their choosing with the aid of school staff. This "Focus Week" was designed as a way for students to earn their Occupational Credits or elective credits required to graduate high school in Washington State. During Focus Week, students are taught skills such as: sewing, rocket making, sailing and other activities not taught in the traditional classroom setting. Many of the Focus Weeks involve going on overnight trips to other parts of the state, other states and sometimes outside of the country, including a three-week long exchange program to either France or Germany. Although Focus Week is required students must pay a fee that varies based on the specific activity chosen.
The school is located in Bellevue, Washington, and serves all students from the Bellevue School District, which includes the affluent cities of Bellevue, Clyde Hill, Medina, Hunts Point, Yarrow Point, Beaux Arts Village and parts of Newcastle, Redmond and Kirkland.
As of 2006, IS had an enrollment of 458 students. Because of the limited enrollment, students are chosen from applicants from Bellevue School District's 6th grade class by lottery, though it was founded with a sibling advantage, as well as an advantage for "founding families" who helped start the school, both of which have almost expired. The mascot is the Titan.
[edit] Achievements
Due to its rigorous curriculum, International School has consistently been ranked one of the best schools in the nation, ranking in the Top 20 List of Best High Schools by Newsweek Magazine (2002-2004)as measured by the number of AP tests divided by the number of seniors in the school. International School was also selected as a Blue Ribbon National School of Excellence in 2004 by the U.S. Department of Education. Graduates of the school are often admitted into the country's top universities. In 2003 an International School Graduate, Kamyar Cyrus Habib, was awarded a prestigious Rhodes Scholarship. [1] Similarly, 2000 Grad, Julia Terlemchamp is a Fulbright Scholar. Several students have been offered appointments at prestigious military academies, including Brian Runion (Coast Guard Academy, CGA commissioned) and Andrew Nevins (West Point Academy, UW ROTC Class of '09). The graduating classes contain students that have, or currently attend Whitman, Stanford, George Washington, Washington State University, University of Washington, Harvard, Montana State, and Duke, among others.
The most notable achievement, however, is that International School has continued to have the cleanest, safest, and all around best dances in all of Bellevue School District, no thanks in part to the amazing DJ skills of the one and only Nevins family.
In 2004 the tyrannical and dynamic principal of many years left the helm, accepting a promotion to a district position. The school has had two new principals in the last three years. Many students and parents are concerned about mainstreaming of the unique International School cirriculum. There has been much murmuring and dissent among teachers, with several much loved teachers leaving over disagreements in curriculum planning. The disagreements stem from changes the administration wants to make on how International School teachers select their curriculum for the students. Whereas prior to 2004, teachers were allowed to mold and change their curriculum year by year to suit their needs, now curriculum updates are mandated by the school district to conform with other school in the school system. This has resulted in a catastrophic drop in standardized test scores, grade point averages, and above all, in school morale - among both teachers and students.
Currently, the administration is trying to keep International School on track as containing the best and brightest teachers and students through compromises with the district administration and teachers. The senior project - the year long independent study and research which one student likened to the Marine Corps Crucible - is still alive and well, under the supervision of the amazing teachers TJ Hanify and Tamara Truax.
