Goodwin touts Wahtonka

Not only is it actually a safe place to be, he said, but “I think our biggest problem at the end of the day is kicking kids out when it’s time to go home. It happens every day.”

Since he opened the doors four years ago, Goodwin has endlessly heard criticisms of the alternative school – that it’s dangerous, only for drop-outs and bad kids, doesn’t prepare kids for life, and doesn’t even issue regular diplomas to graduates.

These are the comments students tell Goodwin they’ve heard from adults. He wants to shoot down those misnomers.

The school has seen a dramatic shift from its opening, when he estimated 90 percent of the students were drop-outs. “We recruited students from the smoking tree next to The Dalles High School [and] students living in garages.”

Fast forward to today, and he wagers most kids come directly from the middle school, private schools or home schooling.

Or, they’ve chosen Wahtonka “not because they were failing at their other high school, but because they wanted more voice into what they were learning, so our clientele has changed. I would say at this point they are more artistic and creative than anything else.”

Wahtonka was recently designated a charter school, which means its funding is separate from North Wasco County School District 21, and is not subject to possible budgetary cuts.

The school does issue regular diplomas to graduates, Goodwin said, but “so many of our students have heard this from adults in their lives” that it only issues modified diplomas.

He said sarcastically, “Even though our students meet all graduation requirements set forth by the state of Oregon, there are a number of local experts who obviously know something I don’t know.”

As part of its charter designation, the school is required to fill its 60-student roster by a lottery system, although he got a waiver to allow current students to remain. Lottery applications are due by Aug. 17.

WCS was also able to set aside slots for up to eight teen parents, he said. Now the school has two teen parents as well as three other students who are all expecting in the fall.

As to the idea that Wahtonka doesn’t prepare students for life, he retorted, “We are preparing young people to thrive as members of the community, to make their communities healthier, through hands-on learning and action. And also to be creators of their own careers.”

He added, “Wahtonka will not prepare your son or daughter for a mind-numbing job in a workplace that is unjust or unproductive. Bottom line.”

Students do project-based learning, where they find topics of interest, and then, with the help of teachers, satisfy academic requirements as they complete their project.

Projects are required to have a community benefit, and students perform thousands of hours of community service each year.

He said the key is to start with something the students love. “It’s so easy, when you start with what they love. Human beings should be allowed to learn what they want to learn.”

The school’s job is to take that interest and ensure it meets state and federal educational standards. “I have staff that are uber creative and talented in taking student interest and applying them to what needs to be accomplished in a public school setting.”

The school runs year-round, Monday through Thursday, and has a pass/no pass grading system, meaning no letter grades are given.

Goodwin also wants to incorporate regular international service trips into the school. Students went to American Samoa last year, and he hopes to send students to Japan next year and to Mozambique two years after that.

He’d like to see students from all three countries travel to each destination for the service work.

Returning to the idea that the school is dangerous, Goodwin recounted how a visitor noted several years ago how students there were unusual in that they cheerfully and willingly helped others.

“They’re not looking over their shoulder to see if staff are watching them to give them a reward,” he said. This culture of supportiveness developed right away, he said.