International Community School (Kirkland, Washington)
| International Community School | |
|---|---|
 Forever We Rise | |
| Location | |
|
11133 NE 65th ST, Kirkland, WA, 98033 United States | |
| Coordinates | Coordinates: 47°39′50″N 122°11′28″W / 47.66389°N 122.19111°W |
| Information | |
| Type | Public Choice School |
| Established | 1997 |
| School district | Lake Washington School District |
| Principal | Dr. Gregory Moncada |
| Faculty | 17 |
| Grades | 6 -12 |
| Enrollment | 427 |
| Color(s) | Red, Gold, Black [1] |
| Mascot | Phoenix |
| Website | ICS |
International Community School (ICS) is a small 6-12th grade public school in the Lake Washington School District, with an average of 60 students per grade. It is part of a series of schools founded by Dr. Bruce Saari. Unlike other "International" schools, "International" in the school's name simply reflects an international focus in curriculum. It is not an International School as conventionally defined; see International Schools.
ICS is not part of the Lake Washington School District junior high/high school feeder system. It is a choice school, for which an application must be submitted. All complete applications are accepted from students in the district, and students are entered into a lottery to select those who will be admitted. In the event that there is space available in excess of the applications submitted by in-district students, applications by out of district students are allowed.
The school offers a special six year Humanities/International Studies/Arts core curriculum, instead of the regular no art/LASS(Language Arts and Social Studies). Additionally, students study Spanish, for at least four years, with the intention of achieving fluency. Every year, students from the school go on Focus Week, leaving "the confines of the classroom to expand their knowledge".[2] Also, as seniors, students are required to complete a "Culminating Project", in which they spend more than 20 hours researching and developing a project in a specific area of interest. Their project is then presented to a panel of staff and students in the spring. In so doing, students develop their planning, management, and presentation skills, as well as gain understanding of independent study.[3]
Location
The school is located in Kirkland, Washington and serves all students from the Lake Washington School District, which covers eastern King County, Washington.
History
The school was proposed to the Lake Washington school district by parents in 1997 and its program and policies were developed by Dr. Bruce Saari who modeled it after the Bellevue International School, where he had been program developer the previous six years. In every year since it was founded, ICS students have achieved top-tier scores on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning (WASL) test, and as a result ICS has been ranked among the top few schools in Washington state and the nation. In 2005, it was selected as a No Child Left Behind—Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.[4] In 2007 it was also selected as a Gold Medal School, ranking 17th out of the top 100 schools in US News' Best High School list.[5] In 2008, 2009, and 2010, Newsweek selected ICS as one of the Public Elites, the 17 best high schools in the nation.[6][7] Up until July 2011, Cindy Duenas was the principal of ICS, as well as Environmental Adventure School and Community School.[8] After the 2010-2011 school year, Duenas left to help start the new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) school for the Lake Washington School District. She was replaced by Dr. Matthew Livingston in 2011. He was replaced in 2014 by Dr. Gregory Moncada, who is now the current principal of ICS.
As of 2013, ICS had an enrollment of 427 students. Because of the limited enrollment, students are chosen from applicants from Lake Washington School District's 6th grade class by lottery, as well as limited opportunities for transfer into higher grades. The school has a grandfather clause allowing for students who are members of founding families or who had sibling in the first class of the school to be admitted without going through the lottery.
The mascot for ICS is the Phoenix, and the motto is "Forever We Rise".
References
- ↑ "International Community School Associated Student Body Constitution" (PDF). lwsd.org. 2013-03-24. Retrieved 13 January 2014.
- ↑ "Focus Week". International Community School. Retrieved July 9, 2006.
- ↑ http://www.lwsd.org/school/ics/Academics/Pages/default.aspx
- ↑ "Selected 2005 Schools". No Child Left Behind - Blue Ribbon Schools Program. U.S. Department of Education. Retrieved February 2, 2006.
- ↑ "Gold Medal Schools". Best High Schools. U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved December 5, 2007.
- ↑ "The Public Elites". Newsweek. Retrieved May 17, 2008.
- ↑ "America's Best High Schools: The Elites". Newsweek. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
- ↑ "New Principals Press Release". Lake Washington School District. Retrieved August 9, 2007..