La Tercera School celebrates remodel

Petaluma's La Tercera Elementary School on Thursday celebrated the $6 million dollar makeover it got this summer, a complete renovation of the 42-year-old school that happened in just 9 weeks.

'It was a Herculean effort,' Principal Michele Crncich Hodge said, adding later, 'It's really a feeling of renewal.'

The school was in dire need of updates, she explained: roofs leaked, ceiling tiles fell and old removable walls wouldn't stay put, among other things. The changes were paid for by a $26 million bond that Old Adobe Unified School District passed two years ago.

But the 340-student school didn't just start the school year with bigger rooms, a new ceiling, new heating and air systems and a paint job. It also has a fresh mission, said Hodge.

La Tercera this year became the first STEM-focused elementary school in the county. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math. National, state and local education officials have been promoting a focus on these disciplines in order to prepare students for emerging jobs, many of which are expected to be in the tech sector.

However, few elementary schools have gone so far as to center their curriculum around STEM.

'We're kind of pioneers here,' Hodge said. 'We're very clear we want our kids to have the best jobs, and 80 percent of the fastest growing occupations in the U.S. depend on math and science knowledge.'

The idea, Hodge said, is to capture young students' innate interest in math.

'Kids are natural scientists,' she said. 'Somehow, along the way, the old (teaching) paradigm snuffed that out. 'We're working on a paradigm shift, getting kids interested in hands-on learning.'

The school will still focus on non-STEM skills like reading and writing, but they might do so through the lens of science or technology, Hodge said. For instance, students might read a nonfiction book about a famous scientist and then write a report on the book. Sixth-grade students will soon plant seedlings in a greenhouse as a way to bolster their historic understanding of the agricultural revolution.

'Basic instruction isn't being thrown out the window,' Hodge said. But the school hopes its focus will start to attract more students to the district with its new focus. 'We want to attract the kind of folks that feel learning by doing is the way to go.'

The school on Thursday celebrated the changes with a ribbon-cutting, speeches and a science-focused event: Viewing the partial solar eclipse using special sun visors.

After, students in white lab coats led parents and community members on tours of the revamped facilities. 'I really like it here,' said one tour guide, fifth-grader Anona Murphy. 'I've always been into science.' Her fellow guide, fifth-grader Haley Campigli, agreed, saying she had enjoyed a recent project where her class tested water quality.

Students sat at desks and on the floor in one classroom that still smelled slightly of fresh paint as third-grade teacher Tim Sarter and a colleague explained the solar eclipse. Then he played a video on a new flat screen TV of Bill Nye the Science Guy explaining the concept before ushering students outside to see the phenomenon in person.

In a sixth-grade class, students quietly typed away on Chromebooks to finish a writing assignment using a cloud-based program called Google Classroom. The school has provided an individual computer for its third- through sixth-graders. The younger grades have access to centers where they can use iPads.

'I like kids to be creating, discovering, using technology,' said teacher Lisa Beaudry.

Classes were also redesigned to allow more space for collaboration, which is called for in the state's new Common Core standards. And the school has dedicated a room to hands-on, Maker Movement style-projects that are growing in popularity throughout the county.

'I didn't realize how much they put into it,' said one parent, Heather Campigli, who attended the school herself in the 1980s. 'Aesthetically, they've really updated it.' She said she hadn't been aware of La Tercera's STEM focus when she signed up her transitional kindergartner this year. But so far, she said, she thought the changes were great.

Staff Writer Jamie Hansen blogs about education at extracredit.blogs.pressdemocrat.com. You can reach her at 521-5205 or jamie.hansen@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @jamiehansen