A few days out of the month, 3rd-graders from Dewey Elementary School and 7th-graders from the Alternative Learning and Behavior and Attitude (ALBA) Community Day School trot to Liberty Station to participate in a pilot school program that provides unique arts and cultural education to children who wouldn’t normally get the opportunity.
The school serves the 3rd-graders from Dewey Elementary, 3251 Rosecrans St., who may be dealing with the stress of having parents who have been deployed overseas, said Vera Valdivia, the school’s principal. It also hosts ALBA students who have violated zero-tolerance policies at the regular public schools, according to Anisha Dalal, ALBA’s principal.
The Liberty School, based in Historic Building 176 at the NTC Promenade, brings school-age children to the former Naval Training Center to learn dance, quilting, martial arts and science. The program emphasizes hands-on curriculum-based learning and comes as a result of a partnership between the NTC Foundation, the public school system and the arts and cultural organizations that call NTC home.
Valdivia has about 60 3rd-graders who attend the school for an afternoon each week to learn artistic quilting among other subjects.
“It’s a way of getting the kids to learn outside of the classroom, and we really liked the idea of being really creative “¦ in getting the best education for the kids,” she said. “If this was a private school, the kids would probably get something like that.”
Quilt Visions, a resident arts group at 2825 Dewey Road, provides quilting instruction for the pupils. As a result, the students get to see their work on display at the Quilt Visions Art Gallery and will be part of an exhibit running through early 2008, said Ann Olsen, president of the organization. For more information, visit www.quiltvisions.org.
In addition to quilting, students also get to learn dance.
John Diaz, the designated instructor from San Diego Dance Theatre, said one of the hardest things to do is get about 23 3rd-graders to stand in a straight line. They eventually, however, come to learn about the more technical side of dance, like counting beats and dance terminology, he said.
The instruction also coincides with the children’s science curriculum. Diaz weaves lessons about the solar system into their performances, he said.
Through dance and martial arts, the students also get their physical education.
“It’s been very positive. The students enjoy the opportunity to learn karate and they enjoy learning about movement and choreography,” said Dalal.
About 10 7th-grade students from ALBA, 5510 Trojan Ave., bus themselves to Liberty Station one day a month to fulfill state education requirements, she said.
Students from ALBA are those who have violated the school district’s zero-tolerance policies and who have been expelled or face expulsion. The school serves as an opportunity for the children to work back into a traditional classroom after a semester or two at ALBA, she said.
The program also incorporates physical education that emphasizes discipline. With the help of U.S. Karate Academy, run by instructor Sal Convento, the students learn values such as responsibility, respect and integrity through martial arts and “mat chats.”
The chats help students who may have had disciplinary problems in a traditional classroom setting, he said.
Dalal said she has noticed a marked improvement in the children’s self-esteem and outward behavior from her 7th-graders who attend the martial arts classes.
The children started attending Liberty School during the first weeks of October and just concluded at the end of December, according to Alan Ziter, executive director of the NTC Foundation.
“Some kids sometimes just don’t get sparked as well as when they’re in the confines of four walls in the same classroom all day long,” he said.
At a cost of about $1,500 per student, the program was made possible by a $500,000 grant from the San Diego National Bank, he said. He said the NTC Foundation partners would be conducting a more in-depth study to determine the success of the program.
Residents wishing to donate grant scholarships for students from ALBA can call ALBA Community Day School at (619) 287-8395.