New City School

New City School is a non-sectarian, co-educational independent elementary school in St. Louis, Missouri. It was founded in 1969 by a group of parents interested in creating a progressive school in the then-struggling Central West End area of St. Louis. It is housed in a renovated turn-of-the-century school building.

About/History

New City School was founded in 1969 to help stabilize the then-struggling neighborhoods of the city’s Central West End. A group of neighbors—many of whom had small children—began meeting to discuss the possibility of opening a school.

1960s

• The genesis of New City School was sparked when two venerable schools in the Central West End—Barat Hall and City House—closed in 1966, deflating real estate values and leaving the neighborhood without first-rate schools.
• In 1969, New City opened under the leadership of head of school Jerry Glynn, six teachers and nearly 100 children from three-year-olds to fourth graders, and began class in the First Unitarian Church located at Waterman Blvd. and Kingshighway Blvd.

1970s

• New City moved to the old Mary Institute building at Waterman Blvd. and Lake Ave. Built in 1901 at the then-edge of the city, the building was the home of Mary Institute until 1937. It then became Lutheran High School until being abandoned in the early 1960s.
• Head of School, Charlie Rathbone, took over after the school’s first two years, and remained for one year. Board members played leadership roles during the transition between Heads of School. Len Marks became head in 1974.
• Full accreditation was received from the Independent Schools Association of the Central States (ISACS).

1980s

• University City elementary school Principal Tom Hoerr became Head of School in 1981.
• In 1983, New City was named an A+ School by Instructor Magazine.
• In 1989, $93,901 in need-based scholarships was distributed to 18.9% of the students.
• From 1987–1988, a $1,000,000 capital campaign is launched to renovate the building so that all three floors can hold classroom spaces.
• The faculty begins to pursue implementing multiple intelligences (MI) in 1988.

1990s

• In 1992, a $1,200,000 capital campaign enabled the school to acquire land to the west to create a new playground and soccer field, and land to the south to create a parking lot and playing field.
• The Financial Aid Endowment Fund was created in 1993 ($3,422,000 as of July 2013).
• Four multiple intelligence conferences were held at New City, and the faculty wrote two books, Celebrating Multiple Intelligences: Teaching for Success and Succeeding with Multiple Intelligences: Teaching through the Personal Intelligences.
• In 1998 the theater was renovated and renamed Founders Hall.
• In 1999, $351,597 in need-based scholarships was distributed to 26.7% of the students.

2000s:

• The New City Centennial Garden was opened on the playground in 2001.
• In 2005, Howard Gardner, creator of multiple intelligences theory, joined us to open the world’s first Multiple Intelligences Library.
• In 2009, $749,873 in need-based scholarships was distributed to 34.9% of the students.
• In 2009, a green roof was created on top of the dining hall.
• In 2010, Jossey-Bass publishes the faculty’s book, Celebrating Every Learner.
• In 2011, the Betsy Blankenship Plaza on Waterman Blvd. is created.

Diversity efforts at New City School

New City School was founded on the belief that students of various socio-economic and racial backgrounds should have the opportunity to come together to learn and play. This remains a core value of the school.

The New City student body is composed of 37% students of color, come from 48 different zip codes, and 40% of students receive need-based scholarships.

Multiple intelligences

Since 1988, the theory of multiple intelligences (MI), conceived by Harvard University Professor Howard Gardner, has been used as a tool for teaching and learning at New City School. This unique academic learning approach capitalizes on students’ strengths and creates a deep level of understanding that allows children to use what they’ve learned in new and different situations.

Teaching and learning go beyond the traditional approaches; too often schools only consider the linguistic and mathematical subjects when talking about how intelligence is measured. The theory of multiple intelligences (MI) advocates that there are eight intelligences that need to be nurtured and developed in children: linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, naturalist, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.

These all reflect different ways of interacting with the world of thinking, solving problems, and learning. Proponents of multiple intelligences believe everyone has all of the intelligences; it is just that each person has his/her own unique multiple intelligences profile. Multiple intelligences is a tool which allows New City teachers to expose students to new concepts and skills in multiple ways, and also allows students to demonstrate their understanding in a variety of ways.

While the school ensures its students are capable learners who often exceed the grade level expectations on standardized measures, New City strives to challenge its students to go above and beyond those measures. Multiple intelligences serves as a vehicle by which this is accomplished.

Some examples of how multiple intelligence theory is being used in the classroom setting at New City School are:

• groups working together to solve a complex problem
• students acting out a historical event
• students sharing a book or story by using one or more of their intelligences
• students giving and/or receiving thoughtful and constructive feedback
• students using different percussion instruments to represent each component of the digestive system
• students building models of a new insect species
• students creating bar graphs to illustrate the many similarities and differences in skin color
• students making Venn diagrams comparing themselves to a story character
• students planting Native American crops in the garden

Green efforts at New City School

Since the 1990s, New City has made a conscious effort to "go green." These efforts began with a student recycling program, and have progressed to the installation of a green roof on the cafeteria roof in 2009, and most recently, the installation of solar panels in 2013.

Throughout this period, students and teachers have worked to be more environmentally aware. Students recycle food products, school supplies, paper, cardboard, plastic, and cans, and the school has instituted a policy of using sustainable materials whenever possible.

New City’s Green Committee and popular River Kids program lead the school's efforts towards sustainability. Green efforts at New City include but are not limited to the following endeavors:

• Rain barrels in the garden area and on the green roof
• Lights changed from T12 to T8
• Programmable thermostats throughout the building
• Auto-flush urinals and toilets throughout the building
• Auto on/off faucets
• Hand dryers
• Paper & plastic recycle bins for community and parent use
• Low-E argon gas insulated glass windows
• Green cleaning products used
• Washable coffee mugs
• Motion sensors installed in select locations to turn off lights when a room is not in use
• Vending machine control to turn off machine when not in use
• E-mail signatures to encourage readers not to print e-mail

Faculty and staff

Head of School

Thomas R. Hoerr, PhD, has been the Head of School at New City since 1981. Prior to coming to New City, Tom was the principal of Pershing Elementary School in the School District of University City. Tom founded and directed the Washington University Non-Profit Management Program, co-facilitated the ASCD Scholars Program. He facilitates the ASCD Multiple Intelligences Professional Interest Community and leads the ISACS New Heads Network.

Following the words of playwright Edward Albee, who said, “I write to find out what I am thinking,” Tom has written more than 100 articles and four books: Becoming A Multiple Intelligences School, The Art of School Leadership, School Leadership for the Future, and Fostering Grit. He writes a monthly column, “The Principal Connection,” for Educational Leadership, one of the country’s premier educational publications. Tom will retire as of July 1, 2015.

Faculty

New City School has 40 full-time and five part-time faculty members, including classroom teachers and specialists in science, library, Spanish, art, movement and music, performing arts, physical education and technology, in addition to a learning specialist and school counselor. New City School teachers have an average of 13 years teaching experience with an average of 11 years spent teaching at New City School. 50% of teachers have advanced teaching degrees. New City maintains a 9:1 student teacher ratio in its classrooms.

Performance based pay plan

New City School is one of very few schools in the country to use a performance-based pay plan for teachers.

Teachers are evaluated in five key areas:

• Knowledge of subject matter.
• Knowledge of child development and the learning process.
• Rapport and enthusiasm with students.
• Presentation skills.
• Professionalism and collegiality.

Tuition and Scholarship Aid

New City’s primary tool for attaining economic diversity is through need-based scholarships, awarded to 39% of its families for the 2012-2013 academic year. These scholarships help off-set the cost of tuition based on a family’s individual income levels.

References

External links

• Official Website of New City School