GARY | A new private school, geared to the middle grades, is opening up sites in Gary and Hammond.

Mosaic Middle School will compete directly with the Gary Community School Corp., local charter schools and private schools for students in grades six to eight.

The school hosted an enrollment and registration session at its Gary campus, 665 S. Lake St., Friday. It also intends to open a site in Hammond at 6947 Hohman Ave. The school is leasing both buildings.

The Mosaic Middle School in Gary opens at a time when the Gary Community School Corp. has decided to officially operate a middle school again for the 2012-13 school year.

A year ago, Gary closed all of its middle schools and placed seventh- and eighth-grade students in high school buildings. The move caused such an uproar among parents that Gary school officials said they would repurpose the former Dunbar-Pulaski building as a middle school in the fall.

The Gary schools also are offering students options in which they can choose to put students at Banneker Achievement Center, Frankie Woods-McCullough Academy for Girls or continue to keep them in the three high schools (Wirt-Emerson, Lew Wallace and West Side).

Meanwhile, Andrea Coffer, Mosaic’s academic director, said the school is partnering with New York-based Expeditionary Learning. Carrie Fischer, a school designer with the company, said it operates 165 schools across the country. She said the company would provide a number of things to the school, including the curriculum, project-based learning, character and culture, core values and create high achievement among all students.

“Research shows that you lose students at that middle school age,” Coffer said. “We’ll have small classrooms and create a warm climate for our students.”

The cost of the private school will be $4,950. Coffer said parents will be encouraged to apply for Indiana’s school voucher program. She said the school already has been approved for the program. Coffer said they hope to enroll at least 200 students at the Gary campus and 300 students at the Hammond campus, which is larger. So far, 40 students have been enrolled at the Gary campus.

Coffer said they hope to hire 19 teachers for the Gary campus, and salaries will be competitive, ranging from $30,000 to $40,000.

A school board made up of residents and parents will be appointed to direct policy at the respective schools. The Mosaic school year is expected to be Aug. 22 to June 22.

Parent Lakesha Brown, of Gary, was excited to learn about a new school opening up. Her sixth-grader daughter has been a student at Thea Bowman Leadership Academy, a charter school in Gary, since first grade. However, Brown said she does not want the girl in a high school building next year.

Brown said she is “weighing her options.” She hasn’t made a firm decision but said she came out to get more information about Mosaic Middle School.

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BECOMES FIRST SCHOOL IN NORTHWEST INDIANA TO HOLD THAT PRESTIGIOUS DISTINCTION

In Expeditionary Learning schools learning expeditions are the primary way of organizing curriculum. The subject matter of a learning expedition is a compelling topic derived from content standards. Learning expeditions feature linked projects that require students to construct deep understandings and skills and to create products for real audiences.

These learning expeditions are intended not only to foster students’ academic growth, but also to contribute to the community. In Rochester, New York, for example, students worked on a proposal to beautify the area by uncovering a river that had been paved over and creating a riverfront park area. In Denver, Colorado, students proposed to build a planned new school as a “green” school, researching environmentally friendly building practices, proposing a school design, and creating pamphlets to present their findings to the district.

Learning expeditions support critical literacy, promote character development, create a sense of adventure, spark curiosity, and foster an ethic of service. They address central academic standards of content, skills, and presentation, and include goals related to character and community. They allow for and encourage the authentic integration of disciplines.

Teachers work together to ensure that learning expeditions align with local standards. A coherent sequence of learning expeditions is mapped vertically through the grade levels to ensure that expedition topics are not repeated and that students learn essential skills and knowledge.

President Barack Obama called Capital City Public Charter School, an Expeditionary Learning School, an “example of how all our schools should be.”  For more information or to be part of this program please email Janiece Carter at janiece.carter@mosaicschools.org or call 1-888-793-8826.