home

An Open Letter to Our Students, Colleagues, and Friends:

Although a number of excellent, large private schools are available to families in Costa Rica, some find that their children’s needs are simply not being met. In some cases, gifted children are not sufficiently challenged. On the other hand, children with special needs may not be accommodated. Student-teacher ratios are often disappointingly high. Despite rising tuition rates, some parents feel that physical facilities and teacher quality are not up to their standards. Owners and administrators of schools run as businesses often make decisions based more on profit margins than children’s needs, a frustrating situation for parents who see learning as their first priority.

As parents and educators, we share the concerns of these families. Independently, we each dreamed of creating our own school here in Costa Rica, a school that truly offered the type of education we wanted for our own children. However, being typical middle class teachers, not accustomed to taking risks, it seemed that the dream would stay just that. After all, leaving secure teaching positions, taking our children out of what is considered by many to be a fine school in order to create a brand new one, is not what teachers do. However, growing dissatisfaction, and a sense that we had to find better options for ourselves, our children, and other children, led us to share some ideas and, suddenly, the dream seemed possible. Despite numerous doubts and fears, we quietly began to write a business plan, a frustrating and seemingly endless task for a couple of non-business people. Recently, we succeeded in interesting a group of investors, people who shared our vision of a small, innovative school that would put children first.

What would be the advantages of such a school? First of all, children would benefit from personalized attention from teachers and greater parent involvement. The sense of personal possession and involvement on the part of students, parents, and teachers also promotes a pleasant, flexible learning environment with minimal bureaucracy. Another advantage of small schools that have low student/teacher ratios is that students learn at their own pace and have more opportunities to develop leadership skills. Despite having fewer rules than larger schools, small schools generally have few discipline problems; this allows more time for learning.

Here, finally, is our mission:

At the Phoenix School for Innovation, children come first. Our mission is to prepare them to not only survive but to thrive in the 21st century. Phoenix School prepares tomorrow’s leaders and innovators today.

This mission embodies our vision of a school in which children experience joy and success, have their curiosity nurtured, and realize that true understanding is the key to learning. We believe that success in our modern world requires people who have a solid foundation in core subjects such as history, mathematics and language arts, but that is not sufficient. They must also be global citizens able to interact with people from a variety of cultural and social backgrounds, skilled at problem solving, knowledgeable about health, economic, and social concerns, proficient at finding their own answers, and willing to take calculated risks.

We believe that children’s well-being is the foremost consideration in educational decision-making. While school administrators must be financially responsible, we must never forget that parents and their children are customers and must receive the highest quality of education possible.

We also believe that parent involvement is crucial to the success of any school. Parents should be encouraged to become involved in school functions and activities, both in and out of the classroom.

We consider teachers to be highly trained professionals who deserve to have their voices heard. We expect all teaching staff and administrators to engage in continuous and rigorous professional development, never settling for routine and complacency.

While other schools focus on offering a traditional curriculum that facilitates entrance into college, we believe that education is not just to prepare children for some other stage of education. In the modern era, a traditional education does a disservice to children. Our youth live in a world of constant change. We believe that an innovative education is needed to prepare our children to live in the 21st century. You will not find at Phoenix School for Innovation a fragmented curriculum divided into disciplinary segments, forcing children to split learning into artificial chunks interrupted by the sound of a bell. You will find, instead, teachers working as teams in order to integrate disciplines, technology, and themes into stimulating instructional units that children can understand. You will also not find a computer laboratory because technology will be in each classroom where and when children need it. The Phoenix School for Innovation will be unique in Costa Rica for its modern instructional focus on problem solving and critical thinking in all subject areas, the development of global awareness, and literacy on subjects as diverse as civics, economics, health, and the media.

Despite the enormity of the challenge, we are confident that, with the support and encouragement of parents, students, educators, and the business community, Phoenix School for Innovation will become a Costa Rican model of the kind of school our children truly deserve.

Sincerely,

Kerri-Anne Nolan Steven Katz