More than 90 students, filling three classrooms from transitional kindergarten through first grade, made up the inaugural class of Voices-Morgan Hill charter school, which opened for their first day of school Sept. 8.
All wearing the same gold-colored polo shirts with the Voices College-Bound Dual Language Academy logo and khaki pants, shorts or skirts, 91 students in all were dropped off by their parents at the school site on the grounds of the Advent Lutheran Church campus on Murphy Avenue.
“It was actually way smoother than I anticipated,” said Voices-MH Principal Juan Carlos Villaseñor of the first day drop-off and student arrival that he repeatedly played over and over in his head in preparation for opening day. “We anticipated any possible situation that we could encounter.”
The dual immersion school—which teaches 80 percent of instruction in Spanish and 20 percent in English—opened the same day as the charter organization’s flagship school in San Jose, which has been part of the Franklin McKinley School District since 2007, as well as its other brand new school in Mount Pleasant.
“Everyone was just really happy and excited,” said Marie Moore, Community Engagement Strategist for the Voices charter network of schools.
Voices-MH, the newest charter school in town authorized through the Santa Clara County Office of Education, enrolled students into two TK/kindergarten combined classes and one first-grade class. The charter school, which was denied by Morgan Hill Unified School District’s board of education prior to going to the county office, will add one grade level each year until it reaches the eighth grade.
The modest first-year staff includes three classroom teachers with an equal number of classroom assistants, one special education teacher with one SPED assistant, a parent liaison, principal/instructional coach and another instructional coach.
Villaseñor, who worked at the Voices flagship school for five years and founded the sixth through eighth grade Spanish curriculum, is in his first year as a principal.
“My biggest thing is instruction,” said Villaseñor, touting the Voices model for instruction that differs from that of traditional schools. “I feel a bigger sense of responsibility, but I am also very confident in our staff because they are so invested and dedicated.”
The entire month of August was reserved for “robust” professional development for all Voices staff, according to Moore, as they prepared for Tuesday’s big day following the three-day Labor Day Weekend.
“The teachers and staff worked hard to get the classrooms ready,” Moore added.
Students have minimum days until 12:30 p.m. through the first week to get acquainted with their new school, teacher and classroom procedures, Villaseñor said, and then start up with the charter’s 8:15 a.m. to 4 p.m. regular school days.
As part of their daily routine, Voices-MH students will also participate in 45 minutes to an hour of midday enrichment such as art, dance and physical education. At that time, the assistants help the enrichment instructor while the teachers review their student data analysis.
“I love the curriculum at Voices, but I also mainly love the teachers,” said Josefina Carrillo, Voices-MH’s parent liaison as well as a mother of three children attending the flagship school in San Jose. “Another thing I love is the community we’ve been building.”
Voices-MH offers parent leadership groups such as the Parent Advisory Committee and other sub-committees targeting specific areas such as parent education and fundraising. Moore said the parent leadership will meet and engage with the parent groups at the other school sites in San Jose and Mount Pleasant.
“Even though we are at different sites, we are one organization,” Moore said.
Villaseñor is working on ways to get the students from all three schools together as well for a possible Voices Olympics and other organization-wide events.
At Voices-MH, the school site—which includes a center courtyard (where each morning they do a school cheer celebrating a core value) and soon-to-be-constructed playground area—is only a temporary one. The organization leaders signed a one-year lease agreement with Advent Lutheran Church, which also is home to the Morgan Hill Co-op Pre-School.
“This is a temporary site because we will outgrow it by adding a grade level each year,” Moore explained. “We are looking for a permanent site and exploring all options.”
In the meantime, students were comfortable in their new learning environment as they listened to teacher instruction given in Spanish during the morning hours. The 20 percent English comes toward the end of the school day, Moore said. For those non-Spanish speaking students, teachers include hand signals, demonstrations and repetition to help them along the way.
“It’s amazing how it works,” Moore said.
