Help Bernadine Carroll Design the NEW Hanstein School

[Barry Lane]

This is principal Bernie Carroll from Hanstein Elementary school in Detroit, Michigan. The city was going to close her school but she and her students parents had a big town meeting and convinced the city to build a brand new 22 million dollar school. She and her students need your help in designing the NEW Hanstein school. Blog your suggestions here. No suggestion is too wild so let your imagination go wild.

[Erickkkk]

Everything being suggested sounds really nice, but I think we should first focus on what the students really need. The restrooms in the elementary school which I attended, didn't have the most sanitary bathrooms, mostly because students ruined it, so unsanitary I would avoid going in there at ALL costs. They tried growing plants within the school grounds, but 4th and 5th graders-hell, even 2nd graders always found a way to ruin nice things. Kids just love destroying stuff, especially when it doesn't belong to them. I believe this school should be nice, but not so over the top that it has all these expensive gizmos or decorations which are so easily breakable.

[Bernardine M. Carroll]

Asante Sana to all the new "Friends of Hanstein." Keep those ideas coming....we have just begun our meetings with staff, parents, students and business partners. Your comments will be included. I'll keep you all posted.

[Manuel Garces Jr.]

A garden connecting four classrooms: kids can simply open the door and read outside near benches, trees, flowers, and even play around a water fountain!

[Heather Jensen]

I love the idea of a green school! Each classroom needs to have soft lighting from lamps rather than noisy overhead lighting. Also plants and greenery in each classroom to create a homey, inviting environment! I recommend Nancy Colflesh (MSU) as a person who can come in to build a community amoung your staff and create a climate of trust!

[Barry Lane]

Whiteboards and Apple Computers ( they rarely crash and are fun to use) and enough PD and good will among the staff to use them to their max.

[Gaetan Pappalardo]

Each room has speakers built into the walls. A head unit with CD player and AUX jack (radio) plugged into airtunes (apple wireless router/music relay). You can hook up directly with your ipod, play cds, or use a laptop computer/ipod to play music wirelessly. A dream.

[Amber White]

I would be more than willing to set something up. Be sure to click on The Willows hyperlink to see some more cool stuff about the place. After you talk with your team, we can get something arranged. Ooohh...so exciting!

[Bernardine M. Carroll]

Asante Sana all. Amber., I just copied the article for my team. A field trip might be necessary to see it first hand.

[Bernardine M. Carroll]

Awesome! We held our first "Core Group" Meeting this afternoon. In attendance were: Four parents- three moms and one dad;Staff members, Mrs. Quinn, and Mrs. Armstrong, First Grade;Mrs. Culver, Second Grade; Mrs. Rhodes,Kindergarten,; Mrs. DAngelo and Mrs. Milligan, Preschool; the Principal, Bernardine Carroll. We met from 4:30 until 6:00pm. We shared the core values around which the school design process will operate. We are READY TO GO!!!!!!!
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> I can't wait to hear from the Discover Writing Community. This is a rare opportunity to design a school for a learning community.

[Amber White]

Bernie,
A friend mine, Peter, recently helped develop The Willows, an Earth Education Center . He is the ultimate naturalist and the BEST science instructor I know. If you are interested in going green at all, I'm positive we could do a field trip. Check out this article.