Griffin School...
The curriculum is challenging. With the ratio of teachers to students as favorable as one to six, there is no place for a student to hide or slip through the cracks. The school's small size (they are currently at 50) ensures that intense human resources always surround the individual. Students have little choice but to meet the school's rigorous material head on. "There is no back row", says Wilson. As well as the Texas Essential Knowledge & Skills criteria required by the State, the fully accredited Griffin school also requires at least one year of Latin, an SAT preparatory class, a senior thesis and a year-long civics class based on hands-on community service involvement. It is this service component which drew the school to Hyde Park.
The school is located on the grounds of the Perry Mansion just north of the Hancock Golf Course. It is an idyllic tree-shaded setting, almost rural, on the banks of Waller Creek. Students in the Environmental Science class do not need to walk far to test for bacteria levels in a Texas stream. The location's primary hazard is large female roadrunner who seems intent on replacing the mythological griffin as the school's mascot. But it is the pedestrian culture of the area that keeps the school in Hyde Park. Wilson and the school's staff have made community involvement one the school's core principles. "Citizenship is a key responsibility in education", says Wilson. "We wanted a location where the values of citizenship could best be inculcated; the City is a classroom also."
Just as the school's culture is grounded in a sense of place, the students are very much beholden to each other. "We place an unusual amount of responsibility for the school's day-to-day business on the peers themselves", says Laurence Morgan, who teaches History and Government at the school. "Students are involved in redirecting their fellows."
Success? College acceptance rates are at 100% for Griffin School students. More elusive, given the school's newness, is the percentage of students who go on to attend four-year colleges. But administrators at the Griffin school put their percentage of graduates currently attending four year colleges at just over seventy percent and climbing.
This achievement did not come easily. It took the school a few years to find the balance between creativity and chaos. Wilson and his fellows built up the school without any significant endowments, one student at a time, and for some teenagers the road graduation proved to be too long. Better teacher pay is a challenge both at Griffin and statewide, and the school has no permanent endowment fund.
For today though, the Griffin School and its chosen community are both seeing the rewards of the last six years. Just ask Tyler. He survived four years as a teenager, a fierce roadrunner and even Latin. "I leave for Warren-Wilson University this fall", he said. "I think for me it's going to be a science thing."
