NECSD Attempts to Bring a Super School to Newburgh

NEWBURGH – On May 23, 2016, a team from Newburgh Enlarged City School District submitted their final application to XQ: The Super School Project, a national challenge to rethink high school.  The team believes their proposal does more than that, creating a school that invites students and community members to rethink citizenship, rethink equity and fairness, and rethink the way they work together to build the future of the city of Newburgh.

Newburgh’s Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Roberto Padilla recently highlighted not just the competition but the process overall saying, “Now more than ever, we have an opportunity to reimagine and redesign Newburgh Free Academy. I am so proud of everyone who has contributed to the XO process. We could not have gotten this far without the tremendous ideas and commitment from our Board of Education members, educators, students, and community members. Let’s continue to partner together to reach our potential.”

The team worked over the last nine months to reach out to students, educators, community members and parents to gain a better understanding of the needs of community; what they found was that there was a need to establish new partnerships that invite students to engage with the community, and the community to engage with students.  The proposal is centered around the idea that the community itself will transform how education occurs in Newburgh.  As such, the new plans capitalize on the power of connecting students with the world outside of the walls of the classroom and include using grant funds to build a Community Incubator Space at each campus, where students can connect with community partners and a state-of-the-art STEAM Visitor’s Center and Planetarium at the Main Campus. In addition to creating the spaces for this work, the proposal includes plans to have students design and enact community-based projects that both build their skills and benefit the Newburgh community.  Projects might include anything from planting a community garden to helping supermarkets prevent food waste by partnering with a homeless shelter.  Projects may be proposed by businesses or nonprofit organizations looking for ways to solve real challenges, such as a local salon looking to reduce water waste throughout the day, or an animal shelter looking to maximize efficiency by re-designing the way they house stray cats.  Structures will also be put in place to provide students with internships throughout the community.

The proposal was informed by hundreds of voices from the Newburgh Community.  Mayor Judy Kennedy, parents, students, professors from Mount Saint Mary College and SUNY New Paltz, and members of the Newburgh Professional Business Association, the Board of Education and local community organizations were among the many constituents who contributed to the plan.

Christine McCartney, an English Language Arts teacher at Newburgh Free Academy, commented that, “The process of drawing upon our community’s voices to create this plan helped us to reimagine the learning experiences we offer to the students of Newburgh Free Academy. We are strategically poised in Newburgh to build connections for our students and the real world… connections that move Newburgh forward in innovative ways and create a generation of students who are invested in their community and who want to work to create positive change within it.”

Luis Aviles, the District’s Director of Research and Grants shared, “Very few times can a community find a common goal to work for in order to improve its living conditions, and Newburgh has found it in education” adding that “ a redesigned High School will empower a generation of transformative leaders to own their future”.

Since its launch, XQ has proven to be more than a challenge to create innovative high schools.  It is a growing movement to reimagine what is possible for public education in America.  For more information, visit, www.xqsuperschool.org.