Allison Bork

Professor Tindall
EDF 310
October 4, 2016
Neighborhood Project
I have been placed at Vista Charter Academy, located just between Wyoming and Grand
Rapids. Vista Charter is a part of National Heritage Academies, but is considered to be its own
district. The Vista district is school-of-choice and is public and neighborhood. This allows the
school more freedom in certain choices, but also puts more pressure on individual students. The
school is evaluated by itself and the teachers and administration are held to district standards.
The area around the school is very industrial, its just off of 28th street, so the students
dont really walk to school. Because of the focus on industry, many parents could be working
long hours and not be able to spend a lot of time with their children. If students are not getting
the time they need with their parents, they might seek attention from teachers. Teachers are
stable adult figures in their lives and that might be something that students are in need of.
Students are dropped off by their parents either in a car or occasionally by walking with
them. Because Vista Charter is its own district, they do not share the busses from the public
schools so students do not arrive by bus. Because of this distance, students might live a good
distance from each other and might not get to interact with each other outside of school very
often.
The grade levels are kindergarten through eighth grade, so students do not drive
themselves to school. Parents drop students off by parking nearby and walking them to school or
pulling into the parking lot. Some parents park in the teachers lot, which can get irritating for
everyone because they are taking up spaces they do not need and holding up and already busy
lot.

In the mornings, students wait outside until 7:50, 10 minutes before classes start. They
line up alphabetically by homeroom and are escorted into the building by their homeroom
teacher (and their T.A.s!). Students are not allowed in the building until they are brought in all
together at 7:50. Teachers take turns directing traffic and monitoring students before classes.
This is controlled by a rotation that all the teachers have in their classrooms.
For dismissal, the students return to their homerooms and are dismissed individually.
Each student is assigned a student number and is dismissed when their number comes up. Each
classroom projects a Google Doc. with the student numbers, so everyone in the school is aware
of who is being dismissed at the same time. Some teachers monitor the lot during dismissal as
well, so any student who does not come out of the building within a certain time will be looked
for and, if necessary, disciplinary actions will be taken. This is a safety precaution for the
students, so Vista staff know when each student left and who they left with. The fact that staff
has to go through such measures tells me that there is reason to be concerned for the students
safety. This is not an area that they want students wandering around by themselves.
Students are well-thought-of in this community. They do well in sports and the school
has a waiting list for those who are still hoping to get in this academic year.