What kind of world are we going to leave our children? That is the question Principal Patrick Muhammad asks himself as he leads Chatt Hills Charter School. With a tri-focus curriculum of Arts, Agriculture, and Environment, he's teaching them the value of life from a ladybug to a human.
Education is a pillar of our Biophilic Principles, and Serenbe is proud to support our local charter school since its founding. Today we're talking with Principal Muhammad, who is affectionately known as The Principal Farmer by his students, about how their outdoor programming has improved student health, how they've increased test scores, and why they have a wait list each year to enroll in this innovative K-8 school.
What kind of world are we going to leave our children? That is the question Principal Patrick Muhammad asks himself as he leads Chatt Hills Charter School. With a tri-focus curriculum of Arts, Agriculture, and Environment, he's teaching them the value of life from a ladybug to a human.
Education is a pillar of our Biophilic Principles, and Serenbe is proud to support our local charter school since its founding. Today we're talking with Principal Muhammad, who is affectionately known as The Principal Farmer by his students, about how their outdoor programming has improved student health, how they've increased test scores, and why they have a wait list each year to enroll in this innovative K-8 school.
Hey guys, it's Monica here. I wanted to tell you about a new podcast that I've started with my very good friend, Jennifer Walsh called biophilic solutions. Our last season of ceremony stories, building a biophilic movement was so popular that we decided to dedicate an entire podcast to it every other week. Jennifer and I will sit down with leaders in the growing field of biophilia. We'll talk about local and global solutions to help nurture the living social and economic systems that we all need to sustain. Future generations more often than not. Nature has the answers. You can find biophilic solutions on apple, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts, subscribe and follow us today. So you don't miss an episode.
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All right, now let's get back to ceremony stories.
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Ceremony is a place where the innate connections humans have with nature and all living things is celebrated through work and play. And we're here to tell the stories of those who have been inspired by this biophilic way of life in our community and across the country. This is ceremony stories.
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Are we going to leave our children? That's the question, principal, Patrick mom at S himself, as he leads Chatt Hills charter school with a tri focus curriculum of arts, agriculture, and environment. He teaches his students. The value of life from a ladybug to a human education is a pillar of our biophilic principles in ceremony is proud to support our local charter school since its founding. Today. We're talking with principal Mohammed who is affectionately known as the principal farmer by his students about how their outdoor programming has improved student health, how they've increased test scores and why they have a waitlist each year to enroll in this innovative K through 8th school. That first ceremony stories is brought to you by the, in it ceremony.
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The Inn is nestled in the rolling countryside, a bucolic ceremony where guests can walk on the 15 miles of trails through preserved forest land, the wildflower meadow, and the animal village. You can relax by the pool hot tub or in rocking chairs on the wraparound porch, play on the croquet lawn swings and in-ground trampolines connect with nature and each other all while staying in luxurious rooms on the, in grounds or within the community of Seren, be book your stay today at <inaudible> dot com. Well, I want to welcome everybody back to Sarah stories today. We have a very special guest. This is the principal of our Chattahoochee Hills charter school. He's not only known as the principal, but he's sort of known as the principal farmer.
0 (2m 47s):
So we're going to learn about that today. He's been an educator since 2001 and has been with the school for a number of years, seen a lot of changes and the school is sort of a Juul here in Chattahoochee Hills and in Fulton county. And so we want to hear all about your ceremony story, what biophilia means to you and what, what the future holds for public education, you know, in Fulton county for us. So welcome.
2 (3m 14s):
Welcome Patrick. Thank you, Mr. Steve, and thank you, Monica is honored to be on and have opportunity to share what's going on with Chattahoochee Hills charter school. Yeah.
0 (3m 23s):
Yeah. Well, I always start off the podcast asking, you know, how did you come into our world? And I think that that's a bigger question, cause it's not just Sarah and B and it's not just south Fulton, but sort of how did you come into, you know, education and the charter school kind of, how did we all first meet?
2 (3m 45s):
Okay, well, I I'm, I'm that kid from east St. Louis born and raised in an environment that was extremely difficult, but raised by two parents and sisters that allowed me not to know any of the atrocities that were happening around us. And so east St. Louis, our theme is as a city of champions. And so as a youngster, we were taught that you have to meet and overcome all obstacles in your path. And so as a young young kid, I used to tell my mom, one day, mom, I'm going to have a house so big.
2 (4m 26s):
I'm going to have a dolphin in the backyard. And, and so that just lets you know, the mind set that I had, even though, you know, I don't have a dolphin yet, but it was just the, just the wondering mind of a young child. And I went off to school, I went to Kentucky state university, went from the concrete cities to the bluegrass and it was truly life changing in Kentucky and seeing nature and being in the wildlife and, you know, losing the city noise pollution.
2 (5m 7s):
And so that just stuck with me for a while. And of course, then I moved to Atlanta and get into public education and meet my wife and start having a family and all the great stuff. And as my children began to get a little older, I started thinking like, what am I going to leave? You know, am I going to leave them or principal parking space? You know, that's not last long. And so I started looking into generational wealth and of course that point towards land and lo and behold, we bought eight cows while living in a subdivision. And I told my wife, I had them on a friend's farm named Wayne Swanson.
2 (5m 50s):
I said, if he gets mad at us, I don't think I could put these cows in the garage. And at that time we were in a south Fulton area right off in a subdivision right off south Fulton Parkway. And lo and behold, we find a farm that was one mile from our current residence. And it all worked out. We get the form. And the way I got to Chad Hills was two years into the form. I had this epiphany that I I'm just going to be this perfect farmer. I'm going to leave education. I'm going to teach children from the farm. Right. And so I leave application and I'm working the form every day. And I actually had a nonprofit soccer league on my farm.
2 (6m 35s):
So I cut some pastures real low. And I had about 400 children that play soccer at my house every Saturday. Right. So lo and behold, one day the cows hopped the fence onto the soccer field while it's soccer games going on. And so I run over there and they're like, oh, dad's over here. Right. So they hop the fence and go back up to the pasture. So I come back and people like, oh my God, you did so good with those animals. I was like, oh, those are my cows. And one, the lady said, you're the person who lives here now I'm thinking. Yeah. And they was like, we thought you were the soccer dad. I said, I am, that's my son playing. And so fast forward, they start asking me about, you know, we didn't know, you know, they had been with me three years and didn't know who I was and asking them like, what do I do?
2 (7m 22s):
And I said, I used to be a principal and didn't know I was talking to a chat Hills parent. And so this lady says, you know, we have a charter school that has to agriculture focuses around a corner. And I would say, that's impossible because I would have known about it. Right. It's impossible. And so she said, oh, it's Chattahoochee Hills. And I said, ma'am, I'm in south Florida. I'm not driving to Roswell, you know, way to cause I'm thinking of Chattahoochee river. I'm thinking I'm not going way up there. Well, and behold, I Google it and it's like six and a half minutes from my house. So I'm like, this is crazy. So I emailed at the end of the then executive director and he sends me an email and says, if this resume is true, it's impossible that this is correct.
2 (8m 13s):
And I was like, no, that's me. And he told me in January, we're going to have a vacancy and put your name in a hat. And you know, as you all know, there are 84 candidates at that time. I had moved to the campus multiple times and it got in my spirit and I could see the moment I put on campus and saw the goats. And I was like, this is really like impossible and things just lined up. And so we took over the school and became the principal 2018. And, you know, with, with years of public education and 18 years in leadership, I kinda got in was like, there's some things that we have to fix.
2 (9m 1s):
And so just really put my head down and start fixing things from the back, things that I know, not offending people, but just putting things in place to get us running. And lo and behold, we're at a point now we have no school debt. We have our highest rate of parents returning each year. We're like at a 97% retention rate came. Our school had 30% of our staff were certified. Now we're 85% of our staff is certified. Other 15% are in process for certification. We have increased our reserves from 44 days to 47 days.
2 (9m 45s):
And the savings account is better than it's ever been before our listeners share with our listeners, how many students use our students? We have 545 students kindergarten through eighth grade. And they're steadily increasing. Our wait list is right up above about 150 students on our wait list. And our parents, we have a 98 retention rate with our parents, so it's, it's going good. And I'm so excited. So let, let, let me just tie in my and B connection. So when we were looking for a farm, you know, we drove all over, right.
2 (10m 28s):
I mean, we're driving from Griffin to temple Georgia. And we were like, this is not going to be good. So I would literally get in my car and get lost. I would, I would find like five or six farms to put in my GPS and just ride around. And so I kept going through this community and I was like, where did this community come from? Like, it just appeared out of nowhere. And I'm sure I had written by Chad Hills school before, but I will always gravitate to the Sam B area. And so I had stopped before and got coffee, you know, ran out of gas that, you know, had to charge my phone at the Daisy, you know, and I was just amazed at the community and I would always find myself over by the horses, you know, and just knowing that it's possible.
2 (11m 21s):
So Sarah and before me was a glimpse of it's possible. Like, don't get this made, don't make it larger than it is it's possible. And so getting to the school and learning them, the connection and the extension of Sarah and B has truly been seeing the possibility a reality. And so I'm continued to be enlightened by what Steve and his team is doing. And the murals have been a blessing to me. They were my first coffee and tea after I was hired.
2 (12m 4s):
And so they gave her the lay of the land. So I I'm happy to be a part of the Chad Hills family.
0 (12m 11s):
Yeah, no, we love it. And you know, it was such a dream years ago to stand up a school. And, you know, we recognized as like all the Chad Hills families and ceremony, families that sort of put time and effort into it, we sort of were very naive and didn't really know what a lift it was going to be, but sometimes that's the best way to go into something. You don't quite know what you're, you know, you think you'd have a dolphin in your backyard. So you were like, we're going to do that. I'm going to go for that. And, you know, I think there definitely were some years there where we recognized, oh, this is it's a startup, and you're going to have those pitfalls and changes and executive leadership changes.
0 (12m 55s):
And so I think, you know, we're really thrilled to hear everything that you've done and it feels like the school has really landed, you know, in a really great place. These past few years,
2 (13m 10s):
Monica was in the founding board for the charter school. So when she says the, we, she, that comes from a very baseline. One of the, my passion, Steve and Monica is you have to come into a situation like Chad Hills with the desire of being the bridge. And so me coming in and starting to hear the pain from staff, the story of some parents, the legacy from people like yourself. So my immediate desire was to become the bridge.
2 (13m 50s):
So I reached to the paths, meaning like the beginning, like those people who sat in that room, like I wanted to hear their thoughts, hear their intentions. Then I would listen to the parents and hear their dreams, their wishes of this experiment of a school that they brought their children. Then I would read, I would read from Richard and I will go through the clips. I mean, I did so much research on the school that I was able to kind of rump rambled off the history and people are like, how does he know that? Right. Because I tried to put my mind back into those situations so that I can help bring it into reality. And so one of the reasons that there's a group called the bridge now is because I had a conversation with joy, Mitchell and Greg, and say, listen, but how can we help you, Patrick?
2 (14m 41s):
I said, I can run a school. Right. But there's a divide in the community that I won't be able to focus on. I need some help that way. And those two men said we got it. And so, yeah. And so the bridge is doing excellent things. And so now that's still, there's still this piece that I'm working on, right. Because we do have a large south Fulton contingency, but we don't have the contingency from the ceremony community and the chat Hills community that I'm not happy that we don't have it. And so I'm not the one that says, oh, it's okay.
2 (15m 21s):
You know, we can, no, it's not okay. Right. Because we take the macrocosm, the bridge and that concept, and we bring it to the microcosm in a school. And we start teaching children now early on how we cohabitate, how we live together, how we appreciate life. Then when they become our age, the same vices that they're dealing with, they don't exist. But we can't do that in isolation. We have to do that with intentionality and a collective effort. Definitely.
0 (15m 58s):
And I think one thing that we're we want to do is this, exactly this conversation to sort of spread the word of the story of the school. And I think, you know, because there were a lot of challenges over the years, you know, a lot of people went other ways. And so how do we bring everybody sort of back into it? And I think, you know, the first thing is, is I always think of step storytelling, right. Is how do we get the story out and educate people on it? And then how do we bring people in at minimum, you just to come by, you know, come by the school. So tell me, tell us a little bit, or tell the listeners a little bit about what is different. Like what's the special and what is different about it? You spoke about the agriculture is one of the tenants, but like, you know, it's a public school, charter schools are public schools and some people don't realize that, but they, they have an opportunity to have freedom in how they run it, how the finances are done, you have to get a charter that is approved.
0 (16m 55s):
And reapproved, so it's not that you're just out there, you have to get the good test scores, but tell us a little bit about what's the central core and how that's different from other public schools in say the area.
2 (17m 9s):
Yes, absolutely. Very good question. At the essence of it, I would say we teach the value of life from a lady book to a human. So if my children can understand the value of a lady and you will see them run around campus, oh, they'll step right there. Oh, wait, move. Right. And we're teaching them that, that Little's microcosm of an insect is so valuable to this earth that we live on. And so as you increase in size, the different life forms on the planet, that all of us are connected in some kind of way.
2 (17m 54s):
So I don't know if I ever told Steve this, but Steve years ago, I worked way in stone mountain at a school. And we had a project called the rainbow trout project. And this is how this lines up. Do you know, in 19 2006, I had 1200 students that were raising rainbow trout, right. The hatchlings. And do you know, we will come and release them in the Chattahoochee river that we will have a connection. You know, now that I'm part of, but that's, that's the way the thinking was then value life value life.
2 (18m 34s):
So thinking about by your failure, value, life value life. And so at our school, as students get the Corker to give them the math, science, ELA, and social studies, right. We follow some of the 14 county curriculums in addition to that. And, and I'm working for it, not to be the icing on the cake, but I really want to try focus to be the cake. Okay. And so when I say, try focus is the arts, agriculture, and environment. And right now that's kind of topping, but I'm working to try. And, you know, I want as a school, everything should be taught through the arts ag and environment.
2 (19m 18s):
And you have ELA, math, science, and social studies and not the reverse we're working, we're working on that. But our students are exposed to the environment every day. We have no hallways at our schools, the wonderful design that we have, we have patios style doors to every classroom. So you can open the door and extend the learning outside. We have outdoor classrooms. My push is for my teachers. Of course, when we're on campus to teach at least three lessons, totally outside rain, snow, I won't say hail earthquakes, but writing is teach those lessons outside, incorporate nature as much as possible because of the wonderful design that Steve and the team worked on in, in you, Monica, we have the relationship with bear Creek nature center.
2 (20m 7s):
So our students can walk on the trails to bear Creek. And then we can continue on the trails to Cochran meal. One of the top parks in the state, what do we have in tad Hills is amazing, right? And so the students get a chance to appreciate the trees and the leaves and the flowers and the bees. And we have HoneyBook hummingbird stations on campus, you know, so they can see the novelty of that. We have beehives now on campus, we have chickens and pigs. Last year, we had a horse on campus. We have too many goats on campus. And so the goal is to reeducate adults through educating the children.
2 (20m 51s):
And so my students are the ones that come home and say, oh, we can't use that plastic
0 (20m 55s):
Straw. Right?
2 (20m 58s):
Because that's straws going to impact the ocean. Oh, no, mom, no mom. I can bring my recyclable container like Steve has, and I can fill up my water. I can rent this out and use the same container. Okay. No, no, no. Don't throw that lettuce in the trashcan. We can use this lettuce for our compost. And so, because when you teach a child, now you, you teach the future. So as we're training children and teaching the children now when they go home and extends to mom and dad and grandma and grandpa, and so at our school, my students believe that one, man, one woman, one child, one girl, one boy can change the world. And so that's our focus.
0 (21m 39s):
Now. I love it. Your passion is incredible.
2 (21m 43s):
Say I would just, you know, how I'm credible and the big thing Patrick, that, that you bring is that sense of hope when you were describing the school, you know, how can this possibly be? And I think that's where most of the world is. There, there is a pessimistic attitude that these very simple things that you are experiencing and that your students are now experiencing should be the normal rather than can this be true? And you bring this incredible sense of hope to the school and to everyone you touch and, and your personality gives others that sliver that they could have hoped to thank you for that.
2 (22m 28s):
You all, let me just share this part. The reason that Chad heals and I was so passionate about it is a blessing for me. So my last public school stint, I had just got into the Agra space and I was excited about it. And you see how passionate I am about when I get behind something. And so in the previous school system, I was doing the trout. Then I moved to a different school system and I won a grant with Georgia tech. We wrote it won a grant. So about a $250,000 grant in my, my previous school was in the city of Atlanta. And we could see the skyline and I had a theme from Bankhead to beyond, right?
2 (23m 10s):
I'm taking children from three or three, one eight that lights out, you know, begging for food, just the bottom of the bottom. And it, it amazed me that in a great city, I had so much poverty in my school. And so we wrote this grant with Georgia tech to aquaponics, okay. It was a $250,000 grant. And we had the hoop houses. We had to dig up the earth a little bit and, you know, begin to plant and do the project. And the leadership told me no. And I was like, no, listen, listen, listen, these children, they haven't had a hot meal. They knocked my door down on Monday mornings to get into the school, to get lunch.
2 (23m 51s):
I'm going to show them how to grow food on their patio, on the deck, in a window. I don't care what they have. I'm going to show them how to become sustainable. And they were like, no. And I was, Hey, I had the grant already. They were like, no. So I went from a pay, a place of this form of public education is not going to work. And so when I told my wife, like, I'm going, I'm just going to go to the farm. And I, I came up with this concept called bring a farm to school and I would load up my animals. I was taking them away to private schools and the private schools receive it. I come on Patrick. I would load up cows and goats and chickens, and I'm driving my trailer all around Atlanta. Right.
2 (24m 31s):
And that's that? I said, well, this is, this is the only way I can do this. So the concept of Chad Hills, when y'all design that I had to be in that room because my life has walked into the reality of it. And so it allows me, you know, to cut. I came to school the first couple of weeks with a suit on. And one of the parents said, no, no, listen, you've landed. Please wear your boots and get out there and get dirty with the children. And so again, I just have to say, thank you because the stars have lined up. And I really feel that we're in a great place. And what we are doing for children is amazing.
2 (25m 16s):
You know, Patrick, you, you, you touched on something that, that I say often is, and education, the minimum we should do is teach kids how to grow and prepare their own food. That should be a basic to education. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. Thank you. So I,
0 (25m 34s):
You know, it is like the inevitable question, which I'm going to ask, what you're going to be, you know, is in order for you to keep the charter, right. You have to get certain test scores. Right. And, you know, for years, south Fulton had terrible test scores and that's why Fulton county gave a chance to a charter school to come in and try and show a different way to teach. Right. And so tell us a little bit where you are right now. Tell us about your goals and how you're feeling about that. Because I think that's important in why you have a waiting list. One of the reasons
2 (26m 11s):
That's the, again, another good question. The historical part of my career has been taking schools that were on failing lists and turning them around. And the thing that we do, and I've seen that we have done to make that happen is consistency. And so when you, when you're inconsistent with the model you're using with the teachers on staff, with all of those pieces that keep moving, you can't make a straight line. Right. Because it moving. And so that's one thing that we brought to Chad Hills now is consistency.
2 (26m 51s):
We might, we might've had a three to five teachers transition in the last two and a half years. Okay. So now we're building that consistent consistency, then it's confidence. And what I mean by confidence is if you tell me, if Steve says, Hey, Patrick, I want to, I'm going to give you a blueprint. Can you go build this extension to Sarah and B? He can give me the blueprint and he can tell me the location that the extension and the new houses are going. But if I don't have that confidence and that experience with the greatest blueprint is not going to be a reality. And so with my teachers, I had to get them to a point to where they feel comfortable with implementing curriculum.
2 (27m 39s):
Because the needle of test scores, it's going to keep moving. It just keeps moving. And so now we're at where we're at consistency and we're confidence. Now there are programs that you can put in place with children. So I've extended the learning with some digital programs. So my students are required to be on and I can take it's called iReady. But I ready program is a individualized plan for every child at my school. So they get that general instruction from their teacher, they're working on it. But when they log in to iReady every night, it says Patrick needs improvement with a double digit multiplication.
2 (28m 26s):
It's going to give me that until I increase. It's like lifting weights. So to keep giving me the easy, easy, harder, harder, harder, harder, difficult move to the next one, easy, easy. And so my parents, they know we're on a regimen. I ready, I ready. And so what that does is that helps me. So here's the test scores. Here's where a child is and general instructions is going to get them here. I ready is going to give me that next little piece to get them on the level playing field. And so over the last two years, our test scores have increased about 30 to 35% in the positive virtue.
2 (29m 8s):
We're now we're going to take a dip with the virtual, but my students have access to iReady, even not being in school. Sure. They have access to it in the summer. So I don't go for the summer slide. My students have a regiment in the summer. And the one piece that we, we in this digital world that we lose is children have to read a million words a year. They have to, we have to turn the power off and pick up a book. We stopped that you all children, I can read it on my tablet. No, no, no.
2 (29m 48s):
You have the old paper book. Then the edges and read does so much to the brain. So much for the memory, because now all of our passwords, you know, apple remembers our passwords. All of our phone numbers, apple remembers our phone number. So there's certain aspects of that were lights and inside of here that were turning off. We don't, we don't use them anymore. You do get back to just reading and doing math on paper and pencil. It keeps those shoes is going. And so our test scores are improving. We do have a ways to go, but we're so much further ahead than where we were.
2 (30m 27s):
My teachers are constantly in professional development. My granddad would tell me the biggest room in the house with the room for improvement. I like that. Anytime you get too comfortable, right? You get too comfortable. That's when things begin to deteriorate. So where we have a professional development every Friday, and it is a cyclical nature. So it might be a topic that we work on and we, we pass it. We're going to come back to it. We're going to enhance it more than we're going to go away from. And we come back more. And then the last thing that I'll say is one of the characteristics and leadership styles that I have that has helped me is I'm extremely personable to every staff member.
2 (31m 16s):
Every one of my staff members or leads that I know everything about them. I know their spouse, the doll. And did they got to go fish? I probably know how to go. Fish is doing. And so I work on those relationships, right? If you're at a place you work where you don't feel is burdensome, then you come to work more consistently. You don't take off when you don't need to. And you know, somebody there has your best interest at heart. And so we do a lot with our staff or we'll just take them away and just go to a park or go walking, or they'll get that random call on a Sunday afternoon and I'll ask about their child.
2 (32m 2s):
Right. So I try not to miss any information. And so my staff has a rule that you have to tell me everything and everything, you know, has an asterick just tell me, because, you know, if that piece that you told me, I might need that piece for something else. And so those are the things that help us to keep that consistency that builds that confidence. Then we'll increase our test scores. I love
0 (32m 27s):
That. Do you see, cause I know, you know, one of the goals of charter schools, right? When any state or county brings them in is to learn from them. Right. And I don't know, I haven't, you know, been involved at all with Fulton county or know where their heads are around, you know, pro or con on charter. But I would think, you know, as time goes on and you're here for a number of more years, being able to take the curriculum that you've infused, right? Like, you know, drilling sort of the trifocals into the common core, that then turns into the day-to-day curriculum. I mean, do you think that you'll be able to sort of then go out and help the other, you know, schools implement something similar?
0 (33m 13s):
Cause that's really the goal, right. Is to find the best practices and then implement them in other places. So more kids can have the benefit.
2 (33m 22s):
So we are at the point to where Chatt Hills charter school can not be a secret anymore. We're almost at that point to where it's time to tell our story and it's time for the baby to begin to walk. You know, it's been swaddled in clothing and been protected and now it's time for the baby to go ahead and begin to walk and in bed. I don't see us staying as a charter too much longer. My wish. And my wonder is I see Chad Hills becoming a I've at school.
2 (34m 9s):
Now my, my goal is a private school. That's free because then we can, you know, if the baby still has training, wheels is only gonna go so fast on a bike. And so being attached to a school system, still put some restraints on us. I might want to ride the bike and no hands, you know, I might let it go faster. But with those restraints, there's only certain things that you can do. So my, my desire is at some point for us to become an independent private school, that's totally free to parents. You know, tell me my budget, how much do I need for my, my operations? How much do I need for salaries? Give me that number.
2 (34m 49s):
I'll do an annual campaign. I'll raise that. It'll be a private school where you're totally free. And then we, we could push the envelope, right? We could say, you know, we're going K to 12, no, we're going four years old to 12, but you know what? We're going to go three years old to 12th grade. Okay. We want to say, we want to have our students two or forms in Africa to a forms in Greece, two forms in California and come back and do our projects across the water. Right? We want our students to be able to find a problem in the world. If it's from composting, if it's from food being imported, how can we grow those items on our campus?
2 (35m 36s):
How can we have clean meat and how can we develop another farm in Chattahoochee Hills? How we can connect to having students learn how to be organic farmers by third grade, they're a beekeeper by fourth grade, they can do their own soil test by sixth grade. You know, we can stretch it and really began to develop these great minds for the world when we let go of these training wheels. And so that's some of the three to five year goal that I see because then we biophilia. We would be the hub. And, you know, cause I, I know it pains me when Steve comes every year, he brings this great group and I have the perception of it and the, you know, the ambiance of it.
2 (36m 34s):
But I know what Steve is saying. He's saying, come on, pat, I need you to get it going. I wanna, I don't want to walk them around the campus. I want them to go into a room and see the aquaponics happening in the classroom. I want them to go into the cafeteria and see the children, picking the letters and making the salad. Right. That's what Steve wants to see. He already knows where the cameras will, but you're doing great things. And, and part of it is to engage them, to help you get those things. And you know, that's what we bring that team together. And along that line, I'm sure you've connected with Rodale. Now there will, there'll be opening their center here this fall. And so here are all these resources are coming to your back door and you are a resource for them as well.
2 (37m 20s):
So we all work is this unified group, which is true. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So I'm excited about the Rodale and it's amazing. And so just keeping us aligned up, you know, so those little internships, you don't have to be 17 hour internship. You could be in the sixth grade and have an internship, right? So those, those things we, we, we are excited about. And Patrick, and as you know, the school was, was founded on some of the principles of Richard Lew with children and nature network. And one of the early things we noticed in, in the first student body was the change in absenteeism due to health problems.
2 (38m 5s):
How has that continued? How are you seeing that compared to most schools, your absenteeism due to health, the students, they have to miss school. They had to go to the doctor, you'll see them after school, in the line, right? They want to be at school so bad that like mom is driving me through the line, right? So we don't have a high absentee rate. We're still above 90%. But their attendance, likewise with staff, we have staff that, you know, they might, they might apply for a school and then they come to interview. And when they interview, we say, listen, if it's raining, you're still here.
2 (38m 46s):
If it's cold, there's deer here, those high heels, you can wear that shirt and tie, you don't need it. Right. So we get real, like this is a boots on the ground school and you have some staff member or a potential candidates and say, you know, I wasn't ready for this, but you can see the hill shift of those that stay because when you pass by somebody with a plastic bottle and then you pass by somebody you've seen that bottle 30 times, you begin to say, I have to do something different when you see the staff going to McDonald's and coming back. But then you see the staff members, they have prepared their own meal. You begin to see that as a shift.
2 (39m 26s):
Right. And so, yeah, we have weigh ins, you know, and I don't do it. I let the nurse do it, but you know, we're like, Hey, you know, we're doing a way in, you know, because I need you to be healthy. You can't be on a hiking trail with 30 children and you can't make it up the hill. You know? So it's, it's the, we're educating the whole body and the whole staff and not just the children. And so yesterday we've seen that shift with the health of our families. And I'll be honest with you. We were able to, during the pandemic, we were able to shift quick and we, our school knock on wood has not been impacted. Like some other campuses being outside is, as you are for some of your classes and the kids being outside part of the day, not having hallways that I believe contributes to it.
2 (40m 18s):
And that's what some of the statistics show, plus your mental attitude being outside just lifts your mental attitude. Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And as that shifts to where the children are growing at a larger level, you know, right on campus, like I know we can feed, like right now, one of my areas that I'm working on is out, I don't like our lunch program is third-party and I studied the edible school yard in California. And I know that was quite a bit an issue know, conversation and plan. And so I want to, you know, get to 70% of the food on campus and then 80% on campus, you know, but we have to start that.
2 (41m 7s):
So that's one of the projects that we're working on as we shift back to campus.
0 (41m 12s):
So are you guys hybrid right now? Or a hundred percent virtual
2 (41m 18s):
We're a hundred percent virtual. The leadership team has started coming back. Teachers come back in November and then students begin to shift back to campus. And we're all, we're, we're monitoring the, the numbers in south Fulton to determine, but we're making a back to campus.
0 (41m 35s):
And what are the things like, what can we do? What can you know, anybody listening or the Sandy residents or the greater Chatt Hills? Like what are you looking for as far as volunteering? Is there a project that you're working on? Is that the edible school yard? Like how can people get involved? Is there like something in particular right now or something you're looking towards in 2021?
2 (42m 1s):
Yes. Right now we've partnered with, I don't know if I can call it a partnership because she's just came on, but Juliet Cutler. So Julie came to, and this is, I tell people, be careful when you come around me because like, you're going to end up with some kind of assignment. So Judy, I wrote a book and so Juliet came to read the book to the students and so, and discuss it. So we're in my office and she's just talking and whatever. And I began to talk about the vision of the school. And so Juliet was listening and listening and she came back again and said, can you tell me that again? And I'm just, you know, I'm just, I'm painting the picture. Like I'm like Steve, Nygren standing in front of a thousand acres, like painting this picture of this community.
2 (42m 42s):
Right. And so I painted the picture of the ideal Chad heels, maybe a week later, she comes back with this learning landscape proposal. And for me it was, it was a, honestly it was tear jerky because I was like, this is the first time I a, I've been able to wonder with my mind and somebody puts it in writing. And I mean, she captured so much of it. And so I helped write now that we would need is implementing the learning landscape together. Phenomenal proposal stage is tied into the original plan and the future. So we need help there.
2 (43m 22s):
The other help I would say is the expertise of those in whatever, feel that barrier, like leaning, they're lending their expertise to our teachers and staff. And so like, I'm a livestock farmer. Okay. And so there's a level of expertise I have with livestock, but there's only so much livestock that we can add to the candidates. Okay. But there are some with vegetable, fruit, phenomenal growers in the greater chatty Hills area that I need the expertise to come and say, you know what? We don't need to go on the ground. We need to do raised beds here. You know, you get eight hours of sun here. You only get six hours of sun here.
2 (44m 3s):
We're going to, you know, let's add some sand to this amendment for this to make it grow better. You know, you need to add more stations for your, you know, lady bugs to get the, you know, all that kind of good stuff. So those experts, I need experts in, in water, right? To say, you know, the runoff that you're having, you need flooding because you need the great out in this area. So those experts, we need them to learn their
0 (44m 33s):
Well. And I know that Steve had started the biophilic Institute and that leadership summit has come and visited you for the past few years when they were onsite in the spring. And obviously this year we couldn't do it, but we had planned to do exactly that, bring experts in biophilia to come help, whether that was to do mitigation with the water system or, you know, regenerative agriculture. And so we will be coming back with that next year. We're hoping for a fall summit, but that is definitely something that I know all the biophilic leaders are so excited to participate in, you know, come and help lend a hand and really figure out what that project is going to be each year at the school
2 (45m 23s):
For next year. Patrick, I want us to talk beforehand and sketch out some, some needs the school has where this group could help. And we'll sort of give them those ideas during the tour as to where you help. So rather than you agreeing, worried about what you don't have, then you can share what you need and how their expertise can help you get there. That's that bridge you're talking to. Yes, sir. Absolutely. Absolutely. And then Monica, the last thing I would say in that is I'm working to change the perception of the school or the rebranding.
2 (46m 7s):
And so I ask people in the community to keep your ears open. So when you hear something, you let me know. So like I knew there was this conversation about the school's finances, right. I run schools. So I know find that answer. So I focus on the finance. Now we got that, just check this off, take that off. They can, we can discuss finances. They're financially sound. Then it was like teachers with certification and work on it. Right. I got that check. Okay. There's not a plan with the curriculum. We took nine weeks this summer. And we started writing the trifocals out. We even have assessments for the tri-fold, we're just not on campus.
2 (46m 49s):
So check. So whatever those things that stop us from unifying, the more I'm informed about it, I can be lying and work on it, you know? And so it's a, it's a, it's a pooling is the pulling of the past. And then together we're pushing to the future. And so that's the other help that I would ask.
0 (47m 11s):
Yeah, I think, and I think, again, this conversation is the beginning, but I do always encourage people to come find you and reach out to you. So probably once we're in a more, a little bit safer COVID place like doing a town hall or maybe even here and, and even partnering with our new, the Acton school here at Sarah and B, have you met Eden? The new head of school is wonderful. And like, you guys can be great partners together for education here in general. So I just think everybody coming together is the key and working together because we all have the same goals.
2 (47m 47s):
Yes, absolutely. Patrick I'm reminded of is we all are so aware of what the school's doing and where it is that we assume everyone does. But I'm reminded that you lived about the same distance you learned about the same distance from the school that Sarah is, how long did you live there? And didn't know the school was around the corner. And so I think we have to take that same attitude rather than assuming everyone of course knows. Maybe they don't need that point is so right on it. My next door neighbor in the subdivision I was in his son is an original Chad Hills student.
2 (48m 29s):
And all those years I live next door to him. I thought he was taking his son way somewhere else. And he's, he's a carrot. He's a seventh grader now. And in took from 2009 to, until we bought, this is my next door neighbor. Right. And so, you know, full service like Julia, you go here, that's crazy. But that's that's to your point, you know, it was, it's been a, it's been a guarded secret and now it's time for it to be,
0 (49m 4s):
Which is great. Well, we hope to be the beginning of telling the secret and sharing it out wide. And thank you so much, Patrick, for all your time today. And we will put all the information about the school on the webpage and make sure that, you know, people get on that waiting list.
2 (49m 21s):
Yes, yes. Get on the waiting list. Chad Hills charter.org. Steve, I have to tell you, I took the leadership team to ride the trails at Sarah and B last year, the beginning of the school year. Right. And we enjoyed ourselves or whatever, but I have to blame you, Steve, because I only had cows and sheep. Then now I have 14 horses ride every day at my house now. So Steve is your fault that I have, but that's something that we're going to work with the four H now with our students. So we're going to be doing stuff on campus with that and getting them connected to that environment.
2 (50m 5s):
So I really thank you all. It's an honor to get a chance to work with you all. And I know our future is brighter than our past because of our connections keeps being brighter. Thank you. Thank you.
1 (50m 27s):
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