High Schools in Ann Arbor, Michigan - Community High School (Ann Arbor, Michigan) (Paperback)

Purchase includes free access to book updates online and a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: Community High School (CHS; nicknamed "Commie High") is a public alternative school serving grades 912 in Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA. Located on a 3.2-acre (13,000 m) site at 401 North Division Street near the Kerrytown district of shops, CHS today enrolls approximately 450 students. Established in 1972, CHS was one of the first public magnet schools in the country, offering students a smaller alternative to the city's three large comprehensive high schools. It is one of the nation's few survivors among the wave of experimental high schools that were founded in the 1970s. Unlike many public alternative schools in other cities, CHS is not restricted to a particular student population (such as "gifted" or "underachieving" students), nor does it explicitly emphasize one particular area of study over others. Founded on an experimental "school-without-walls" concept, CHS continues to offer opportunities to interact with the surrounding community, primarily through its open campus and its Community Resources Program, an avenue for students to design their own courses for credit through experiental learning projects in the Ann Arbor area. In contrast to many traditional high schools, CHS has been known for its small size, its open campus and downtown location, student participation in school governance and staff hiring, and loose attendance policies more similar to those of colleges than those at most high schools. The school has also eschewed many of the characteristics of traditional high schools, including interscholastic sports programs, valedictorians, dress codes, detention, hall passes, changing bells, mascots (aside from a rainbow-spangled zebra), and (until the late 1990s) proms. By the early 1970s, Ann Arbor had developed a reputation as on... More: http://booksllc.net/?id=1268855