Newton-Conover Health Science High gets new name, focus

After seven years, the Newton-Conover Health Science High School in Newton is changing a few things about itself, beginning with its name.

This fall, the school will be called The Discovery High School at Newton-Conover, although some are already calling it by its new name. The name was chosen in part by the current students, who wanted “discovery” in the school’s new name.

“We were at a crossroads in our seventh year,” said Barry Redmond, superintendent of Newton-Conover City Schools. “We wanted to do more, and thought health science limited what we were trying to do.”

Redmond said he, the school’s principal, John Robinson, and two other administrators with the system decided to redefine the high school’s core image.

“We wanted to have a little more flexibility with the school,” Redmond said. “The name ‘discovery’ is descriptive of being a facilitator and not a dispenser of instruction. Health-science limited what we can become. We’re not just about one subject area, but a way of learning.”

The school focuses on project-based learning. Redmond said about half of the eight teachers at the school embrace that style of teaching. Some of the changes the school will make includes having two teachers in the four core disciplines — social studies, English, math and science — and every teacher using that method in the classroom.

Beginning with the 2012-13 school year, The Discovery High School will also incorporate the 14 Grand Challenges. These include things like managing the nitrogen cycle, restoring and improving the urban infrastructure, providing access to clean water and more.

“It’s a new focus, which is true-life problems and making learning relevant,” Redmond said. “Project-based learning and technology are still key focuses of the school.”

The school will still do STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) activities, but will include more of other subjects.

The other classes the school currently offers, such as PE and foreign language, will be taken at Newton-Conover High School beginning in the fall. Those who teach PE and foreign language will hopefully be transferred to other schools, but a reduction in force is possible, Redmond said.

Although students at The Discovery High School currently take band, ROTC and athletics at Newton-Conover High, they will also have the opportunity to take other electives at the school next year, including chorus and drama, Redmond said.

To accommodate the new classes with Newton-Conover High, The Discovery High School will move to block scheduling. Although second and third periods could be broken into two, 45-minute periods each, first and fourth will not, Redmond said, because those are when students could be at Newton-Conover High for classes.

To get to the other high school, students who wish to drive will go there in their own vehicles. Everyone else will be bused. Redmond said it will only be for one year, because The Discovery High School will move to the current Thornton Elementary School by the start of the 2013-14 school year, and students will likely walk back and forth.

The school also hopes to have its students participate in internships around the county with Corning, Commscope, Catawba Valley Medical Center, Frye Regional Medical Center, work at Catawba Valley Community College’s Sim Hospital and have other opportunities, Redmond said.

Newton-Conover City Schools plans to increase enrollment at the school, as well. Currently there are 135 students at the school, and Redmond hopes to have about 200 by next year.

“We hope to try some limited busing,” he said. “We’re thinking about Foard High, Riverbend Middle and Grandview Middle, based on previous interest.”

If students can get to those schools, a bus will pick them up from there, Redmond said. There would need to be at least six students interested in attending The Discovery High School in those areas for a bus to pick them up.

Redmond said the school system is not looking to change some of the components that make the school unique.

“Teachers tend to have a more intense connection and a strong relationship with kids,” he said. “Kids come here for a true desire to learn.”