Contextual Factors - school

Contextual Factors:

2. Description of the school

     The 2005-2006 district profile for the Silver Falls School District indicates student enrollment at 3,604 students. Of these, 15.4% were identified as “minority” students, and 9.9% were identified as ESL. In 2009-2010, 82.9% of the school district was White; 14.1% Hispanic; .9% Asian/Pacific Islander; 0.7% Native American/Alaskan Native; 0.7% Multi-Ethnic; 0.4% Black; and 0.1% unknown. The total minority population was 616 students out of 3,637, or 16.9%. Silverton High School’s statistics for that same school year match these statistics very nearly, although there is actually a slightly lower percentage of the student body identified as minority (14.7%), and there is a larger percentage of the student body who identifies as White than there is district-wide. Although no official information is available, a fairly significant portion of the student body is Old Believer, a sect of Russian Orthodox Catholicism. These students, although white, often dress in traditional attire and miss school for religious events a few times per month. They could be considered a minority group on campus.

     The Silverton High School new campus was completed in summer 2009, and consists of a two story building with multiple wings as well as the CTE building which houses Agricultural Science, Auto Shop, Wood Shop, and Metal Shop classes. There are also two greenhouses by the CTE building, and a number of athletic facilities including multiple tennis courts, a football stadium, and soccer fields. In the main building, apart from all of the regular academic classrooms, is housed the choir and band rooms, practice rooms, two auditoriums, an all-purpose fitness room, a weight room, the business and culinary academy, and three student computer labs. 

     One wing of the main building houses the Special Education classrooms. These are split into three distinct branches: the Learning Resource Center (LRC), mainly for basic learning disability support; the Structured Learning Program (SLP), for students with major emotional disturbances, Autism Spectrum Disorder, or other similar exceptionalities; and the Transitional Learning Center (TRC) for students with more severe disabilities. There are eleven full-time faculty who work in Special Education, including faculty specifically assigned to all three departments and assistants. There is also an ELL classroom with two teachers assigned to those students specifically, and a migrant education consultant. 

     The school itself is all very new, and feels a little imposing upon first entering. There are quite a few cases along the walls in the main entrance and hallways, full of Silverton paraphernalia past and present, but not a lot of student posters until the classroom hallways. Most halls, rooms, and offices are clearly marked, but there are few, if any, signs or indicators leading the way to anything in the building, making it impossible to find your way around without asking for directions. It is all very impressive, and looks as new as it is. Things are kept very clean, and the school feels very well-organized and structured. They pride themselves on their reputation as a good school, and do their best to keep that reputation visible in the way the school is organized. The students are typical high schoolers - lots of cliques and subgroups of stereotypical students sitting together in the lunch room - but they are very friendly with their teachers and the staff: I have observed on multiple occasions students interacting with teachers that they have had in the past (not current teachers) on very good terms. Silverton High School feels very much like a close-knit, tight-run community.

     Given that the demographics of the high school very closely reflect those of the community at large, I feel the same considerations apply in that regard. It is exciting to know that there is such a large support community in place for Special Education, and although it is, sadly, not quite large enough to support those students it does help, it is nice to know that there is a team of dedicated individuals in that field. I think that having them there, visibly supporting those students, will help me as a classroom teacher be aware and actively working to help support those students in my classes who work with the Special Education departments. Given the overall atmosphere of the school, I feel it behooves me to be very familiar with the rules and regulations of the school and its policies, but also to build up good relationships with my students. On the one hand, I will be well aware of what it expected of me and of the students at all times, but I will also be a friendly face to them, and they know they can come talk to me about whatever they need, academic or not.