Beacon Hill Community School updates and entertains parents
By Leah Brown
March 28, 2014
486
Beacon Hill Community School had its annual parents banquet Thursday, March 20. The school, although it doesnt have a physical address of its own, has been using the Lighthouse of Hope building at the Pier in Dundee for the last three years.
The parents banquet is a way for principal Brad Herman to communicate with parents and students alike, as well as showcase some of the many things the students have learned over the course of the last year.
The smaller class sizes and the nature of the school encourage students to work through programs such as home economics and carpentry. In addition to the career path programs, students also take courses in math, language arts and technology. Herman says Beacon Hill includes extra vocational programming at the request of the parents of enrolled children. Our staff is a good fit, he said. We understand the community.
That understanding has helped the school double in size in the three years since its inception. Although the school only advertises through word of mouth, it now has 75 students in both the middle and high school.
During the program, Herman addressed multiple issues. First he congratulated both parents and students on the massive amount of fundraising they have done. With just two fundraisers last year, they were able to raise more than $30,000.
Herman then addressed multiple concerns parents had for the coming school year. In the next two years, he hopes to improve access to school transportation, create more breakfast and lunch options for students, find a way to accommodate the growing number of new and adult students, and develop extracurricular activities. Other long-term goals for the school include monitoring grade level effectiveness, enhancing high school programing, developing an adult education program and finding a permanent facility.
Although Herman currently doesnt have a solution for the growing student body, he is happy to be looking for a larger building. These are all good problems to have, he said. He also stressed that the solutions to these issues must be acceptable to parents. Beacon Hill is a school connected with its student body in a way other public schools arent. Herman wants to make sure the school fulfills their needs.
After the schools plans were discussed, parents were invited to watch their students put on a living museum. Each student in the seventh and eighth grade classes prepared a short speech to recite to parents.
The seventh graders emulated famous inventors while the eighth graders informed visitors about marine animals. The seventh grade class impersonated inventors such as Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, Mary Anderson, the creator of windshield wipers and Jacques E. Brandenberger, the maker of cellophane. In the ocean exhibit, the eighth graders informed visitors about manatees, angelfish and other marine life.
For information about Beacon Hill or for enrollment possibilities, Herman says there is a second informational meeting scheduled for April 10 at 6 p.m. at the Pier, 10470 Winesburg Road, Dundee.
