Tyee Educational Complex

Tyee Educational Complex is a public high school campus located in SeaTac, Washington. It was founded originally as Tyee High School, a single public high school, in 1962. It is operated by the Highline School District.

Starting in the 2005-06 academic year, it was split from a single school into three smaller high schools as a part of the small schools movement. It is also a member of the Coalition of Essential Schools. The three schools are known as the Academy of Citizenship and Empowerment (ACE), Global Connections High School, and Odyssey — The Essential School.

History

In 1962, Tyee High School was founded as a part of the Highline School District to serve an area between Burien and Des Moines in the west, and Tukwila in the east, which would later become the city of SeaTac.

mall schools conversion

In the years prior to the conversion, Tyee suffered from severe discipline and academic performance issues, and had become known as the "ghetto school" to students and adults in the surrounding community.cite video | title=EssentialVisions Disc 3: School Culture |url=http://www.essentialschools.org/pub/ces_docs/resources/essentialvisions.html | medium=DVD | publisher=Coalition of Essential Schools | location=Oakland, CA | accessdate=2008-01-22] New principal Max Silverman and the district's deputy superintendent, John Welch, knew that change was necessary and began to talk about how to improve the situation. In 2003, the school received a grant from the Discuren Foundation to begin research.cite journal | year = 2006 | month = January | title = Creating Something Truly Different on the Tyee Campus | journal = The Learning Network | volume = 4 | issue = 4 | pages = 3–5 | publisher = Small Schools Project | location = Seattle, WA | url = http://www.smallschoolsproject.org/PDFS/TLN/TLN-Jan_06.pdf | format = PDF | accessdate = 2008-01-22]

Over the next several years, Silverman and Welch led the research, including traveling to other high schools across the nation to note what made such schools successful. This research led the staff to decide that a small schools approach was the best way to improve the school's standing. In the 2004–05 school year, the school instituted freshman "houses" intended to give incoming students more personalized instruction. The staff noted significant improvements, which support the idea of small, autonomous schools.

In 2004, Tyee received a large grant from the Coalition of Essential Schools to be used in the conversion process. In addition, they, along with the district's other three schools, received a Department of Education Small Learning Community grant. 2005 saw the added support of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which awarded a grant to the district, a significant portion of which went towards Tyee.

Beginning in the 2005–06 school year, Tyee ceased to operate as a single comprehensive high school and was split into the three small schools, as noted above. However, it was still recognized by the state as a single school, and thus its graduates received Tyee High School diplomas, and WASL scores were reported only for Tyee as a whole. The schools first held individual graduation ceremonies in 2007. In the same year, WASL scores were reported individually for each school.

Enrollment

In the years preceding the conversion, Tyee's enrollment was at just above 1200 students. As a condition of the Coalition of Essential Schools grant, the small schools were to each have no more than 400 students, resulting in the complex's total enrollment being closer to 1100. In the first two years of having small schools, students were not allowed to enroll in a specific school, instead being placed into one of the three depending on various factors. Beginning in the 2007-08 school year, students were allowed to enroll in the school of their choice.

chool facilities

The complex consists of several small circular buildings, as well as two larger buildings. As Tyee initially existed as a single school, adjusting to three small schools has been difficult. The cafeteria (100), library (500), gymnasiums, locker rooms, (part of 700 building) and clinic (900) are operated by the complex and are shared equally by all three schools. In addition, the 200 building, which contains science equipment which cannot easily be moved, is shared by the three schools; however, unlike the other buildings, each school is responsible for different rooms of the building.

Other parts of the complex are occupied by individual schools. Global Connections occupies the 300 and 600 buildings on the east side of the complex. ACE occupies the classrooms of the 700 building, which excludes portions operated by the complex, such as the gymnasiums. Odyssey occupies the 800 building, a large building at the top of the hill on the western side of the complex. This building was once part of neighboring Chinook Middle School, but has since been used by Tyee, and eventually Odyssey.

Extracurricular activities

ports

Athletics are one of the few areas in which all three schools remain combined, as it is unlikely that any of the individual schools would have the ability to field a full team in any event. The sports teams fashion themselves the Totems, after the traditional Native American totem poles. The complex as a whole fields varsity teams in football, cross country, soccer, volleyball, swimming, basketball, gymnastics, wrestling, baseball, fastpitch, tennis, and track and field.

Tyee has been largely unsuccessful in athletics, having earned only three state championships in its history, in cross country in 1975 and 1976, and girls' soccer in 1984.cite web | url=http://www.wiaa.com/history/school.aspx | title=WIAA State Tournament History | accessdate=2007-07-19] Tyee has not made a state tournament since 2004 in girls' basketball. In addition, Tyee holds the dubious distinction of having the state's longest losing streak in football, at 46 games from 1998 to 1993.cite news | first=Craig | last=Smith | title=Too many men on the field? Depends on geography, opinion | url=http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=smitty19&date=20060919 | publisher=The Seattle Times | date=2006-11-19 | accessdate=2007-07-19]

Notable people

Having only existed for three years, the three small schools' alumni have not had a chance to make a significant impact on society. As a single school, Tyee produced current U.S. Congressman Adam Smith, as well as KOMO-TV's longtime weather forecaster, Steve Pool. In addition, Gary Ridgway, notorious as the Green River Killer is an alumnus of the school.

References