Howard Gardner Community Charter

Description

HGCS is a Title I school, which means that we serve the needs of students and families from low socio-economic neighborhoods. Our student body includes approximately 15% homeless youth, a significant number of foster children and a special needs population well above the average, at 18%. Howard Gardner once stated, "For most, school is the first model of a community, and it can be a very powerful one. We need to ensure that young people are raised in educational communities that they admire and that they will seek to emulate or re-create for the rest of their lives." Here at HGCS we sustain a great community-oriented environment by keeping a low student-to-teacher ratio, communicating frequently with parents, and taking the time to get to know each student individually. It is not uncommon when you walk our halls to see students learning science through music, combining art with a social science lesson, practicing multiplication tables while playing basketball, or actively engaged in our weekly TK-8 th grade electives, such as: robotics, music, dance, drama, Folklorico, world culture study, sign language, yoga and more. As many of our students only get to play safely on our playground during their time at school, we are seeking to create a new, environmentally friendly, safe, and engaging playground for them.