What a glorious day December 16, 2010 was in Serenbe and Chattahoochee Hills. The Georgia State Charter Commission approved the application of Chattahoochee Hills Charter School (CHCS) which will open in South Fulton county in August 2011 and will be located on the property of the Serenbe Community.
The Chatt Hills community has so much going for it – a rural community with an emphasis on sustainability, health, and community which is only a 25 minute commute to downtown Atlanta. Families moving here to take advantage or organic living, good friends, good restaurants, a walkable community at Serenbe.
In 2009 we determined a need for early learning and opened our own Montessori school within Serenbe which now has a waiting list and happy parents and students!
Living here has convinced me that we are the “little engine that could”. Last year area residents came together to address the growing education needs in the community. And this week we were one of only three applications across the state to be approved for a state charter school!
CHCS will feature a hands-on, thematic instructional approach that uses the school’s unique surroundings as a framework in which students learn, and positions agricultural, environmental, and artistic themes as lenses through which the Georgia Performance Standards can be achieved. This approach will promote critical thinking and create a more engaging curriculum where the connection between class work and real life is readily apparent. Additionally, research suggests that students who engage in environmental-based investigations in their own community often experience better performance on standardized tests, reduced discipline and classroom management problems, and increased enthusiasm for learning.
CHCS will use the abundant, rural nature of the community as a vehicle for experiential learning. Students will work in nearby streams and fields, practice recycling to experience the impact of their choices on the environment, develop their artistic talents guided by local artisans, and consider and test solutions to the problems in their community and develop understanding of the larger implications of these problems around the world.
The school will serve a five county attendance zone area, commonly called “Chattahoochee Hills” (the southwest corridor of Atlanta, including the cities of Chattahoochee Hills, Palmetto, Fairburn and unincorporated portions of Fulton, Fayette, Carroll, Douglas, and Coweta counties).
We are starting in August with K – 5; we will add one grade per year every year and finally be a K- 8 school by 2014. We will enroll a maximum of 270 the first year; adding 45 per year, for a total of 405 by 2014. Class size will be 15 students per class, with 3 classes per grade.
My own grandchildren would rather be in Serenbe than anywhere else. So come and join us!
For more information please contact:
Dianne Harnell Cohen
404-313-7300
dharnellcohen@atlantafinehomes.com
Sandra Storrar
404.310-3538
sstorrar@atlantafinehomes.com