Sierra Mountain Times

Of the nearly 2,000 high schools in California, Connections Visual and Performing Arts Academy is beginning to earn a reputation as one of the states top high schools. In fact, in last year’s U.S. News and World Report it was ranked in the top 200 schools in the state. The school was even qualified enough to receive recognition on a national level, and out of 21,069 high schools analyzed, it received a bronze medal and was listed within the top ten percent. Currently, the school is the highest rated high school in the Sierra foothills. 

Located on the Summerville High School campus in Tuolumne, this 7th to 12th grade charter school focuses on the fine arts, allowing students of Tuolumne and neighboring counties to pursue a path of high academic achievement and develop their interests in the visual and performing art skills. The man at the helm of this blossoming learning environment is Principal Michael Gibson, who has been leading the students toward excellence for six of the school’s seven years.

Gibson, who has been working in the school system for about 35 years, can’t seem to say enough about the development of this expanding charter school, but first let’s talk a little bit about him.

Gibson grew up in Santa Clara and after graduating college he worked in construction as a project manager. After about five years in this field, he decided to return to school and get his teaching credential. In 1974 he a job teaching gifted education at a school in Cupertino, a suburb in Santa Clara County. However, when Proposition 13 (tax limitation) was introduced in 1978, Gibson decided to move out of the state and a year later he found a job teaching in Oregon City, Oregon. 

“I started out teaching elementary school and then junior high and then ended up at a high school as a teacher and activities director,” said Gibson, 62.

After many years of teaching, Gibson, who was on the verge of retiring, came across an opportunity that took him to Tuolumne County, where he found a job running the Mountain High School in Pinecrest. After the school year came to an end, he was presented with another prospect, and was offered a job as principle of the recently developed Connections Visual and Performing Arts Academy. 

Founded by the Summerville Union High School District in 2001-2002, Gibson was asked to take over the Academy the following year.

“At that time the superintendent of Summerville was trying to do both jobs at once and it wasn’t working out too well,” Gibson explained. “The Academy had a difficult beginning because I don’t think there was a wide range of acceptance for a charter school. It was just an idea that the superintendent had at that time and thought an art school was going to be a good idea – and looking back, it was – but at the time it wasn’t a very popular idea with a lot of the staff and the community.”

However, in 2003, Gibson accepted the offer and stepped in as principal, overseeing about 65 students. 

“It was an interesting experience because all of a sudden there were 7th and 8th graders on the high school campus,” recalled Gibson. “Plus a lot of the kids that were coming to the school at that time weren’t screened very well. Some wanted to be in the school because of the performing and visual arts, but a lot of them came there just because they didn’t like where they were before. So it was difficult for teachers to teach visual and performing arts classes when a good number of the students in the classes really didn’t want to sing, to perform, or to play an instrument. It was very frustrating for our teachers and it wasn’t off to a good start.”

Yet Gibson was aware that the beginning stages of the school would be difficult.

“Any school that starts from ground zero has to have a certain number of students to start the school,” he explained. “Because of this you end up focusing on enrollment and not what the role is, just to get it off the ground. It was a difficult process and because it is a visual and performing arts school, if the kids don’t want to be there, it doesn’t work.”

But Gibson was determined to make improvements, and although when he started he was only employed half time, he invested much more than that into the program.

“I ended up working half time, full time…just to get it going,” he said. “But I was spending a lot of time dealing with students who didn’t want to be there.”

Not only were Gibson’s hands full with unmotivated students, but also with financial burdens.

“Funding for the school is on a two-tier system,” he explained. “You get start-up money for the first year and for the second year you have to meet the enrollment goals to continue the funding. We just missed it because the goal that year was 80 students and we had about 70. So essentially I inherited a school that was about $200,000 underfunded. This meant that the school’s money basically came from the ADA (average daily attendance).”

Yet even with the lack of money, Gibson was able to take comfort in Summerville’s supportive administrative staff, which included superintendent John Keiter, principal Dave Urquhart and grade level coordinators Mitch Heldstab and Diana Hartford. 

With their support and his motivation, it wasn’t long before Gibson began turning things around.

“Over the last six years we’ve really changed the focus of the school,” he said. “Now the students that come in are interviewed and the thirty 7th and 8th graders that we accept have to go through auditions. Now we are getting students that really want to be at the school.”

By Gibson’s fourth and fifth year, show choir, classical ballet and an animation department was part of the program. With the help of these crucial components, in 2007 the charter school was selected as a California Distinguished School by the California Department of Education.

“This award is based on the API (the Average Performance Index) in the state of California and the magic number is 800,” explained Gibson. “If you get an 800 they will look at you. Right now we are at 840, which is the highest API grading of any of the high schools in the Sierra foothills.”

Schools are also rated on at 1 to 10 point system and currently they are a 10 in the state of California, making them on par with some of the higher performing schools in the state. The school also has also received six-years of accreditation through WASC (Western Association of Schools and Colleges). 

 “This last year we were listed as one of the top high schools in the U.S.,” said Gibson. “That was a nice achievement.”

Not only has the school’s recognition grown, but so has its enrollment. What once was a school of 65 students has grown to 180. And next year Gibson estimates that the school will probably boast in excess of 225-230 students. A reason for this impressive increase in enrollment is partially due to the wide range of classes offered in art, dance, music, drama and film for students in 7th through 12th grade. 

“We have thirty 7th and 8th graders and 150 9th through12th graders on the campus,” said Gibson. 

“While the 7th and 8th graders are on the campus with older students, they have separate classes for the most part. They have their own science, art, theatre, ballet, choir, piano and math. They also put on their own play each year. Last year they did Aladdin and this year they are doing Guys and Dolls. They are phenomenal. They sing, they dance, and they love to act! They are an amazing group of young people. They have definitely become a part of the landscape and are very much a part of the school.”

The interaction between the junior high students and high school students has proved beneficial.

“I think the older ones look after the younger ones and are their mentors in a way…they are their role models,” said Gibson. “Because they are in plays together, the 7th and 8th graders are able to interact a lot with the older kids. By the end of a student’s 8th grade year, they will know a lot of the older actors and actresses on the campus. They all seem to get along.”

Because of all the plays and interaction in the arts together, a tightly knit bond can be seen between the Academy students. 

“A lot of the kids who tend to be in all the plays together do them every year,” explained Gibson. “Half of our students tried out for Oklahoma…which is phenomenal. Fifty of them were chosen. There are some kids from Summerville that are also in the play, but I would say that about 85 percent of students in the plays are charter school kids. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t a lot of talented Summerville students, because there are, but the kids who come to the academy…that is their life.”

Yet although the focus of the school is on the arts, students are not excluded from sports and other activities the high school offers.

“The Academy kids can participate in all the sports, school clubs and student body classes that they want,” said Gibson. “They have use of all the wonderful facilities at Summerville High School. The reason for this is because everything is prorated for us. We are like a magnet school. We are charged about a third of the cost, because we are about a third of the school, so our students are able to participate in the entire school and use all of their resources. We pay for it, but it’s a nice set up for the students. Academy students are able to take advantage of all of Summerville’s wonderful sports programs and wonderful teachers, while at the same time, they can take the electives that they really want to take and possible do as a career someday.”

With the array of arts flowing through the campus, the presence of the charter school has definitely made an impact on the high school.

“What I see different from when I first took over is the amount of high school students that are interested in theater and are beginning to participate in the plays,” said Gibson. “I think that is great and I am glad that there is a good relationship between the two schools.”

This relationship has allowed students to witness the variety of options available.  

“Some students will transfer to the charter school because the may want to focus on ballet, film and animation or they may really want to excel in choir and take advantage of voice and dance lessons,” said Gibson. “And visa versa, sometimes Academy kids will say this isn’t a good fit for me…I am more athletic and would like to be more involved in that kind of school. There is cross over…but not much. There used to be more cross over in the beginning because kids were disenchanted with the charter school because it wasn’t working as well as they wanted it to work…but it just wasn’t established yet.”

Now that the school is established, it is making a name for itself, and only those who truly want to be a part of it can enroll.

“I interview students first just to see if it’s a good fit for them and for me,” said Gibson. “They may walk out of the interview and say that is not for me and that is good…because I really don’t want them to be there if they aren’t happy with it.”

For 7th and 8th graders the next step is to attend an audition.

“We have Saturday auditions so there is no conflict with school and the kids can be fresh,” explained Gibson. “It takes about three hours and they are tested in math and writing. Then they go into a dance room where they have been told to prepare a piece to perform in front of the teachers, who will follow up with questions.”

Yet in the end, it all comes down to the students’ interest in learning and the ability to get along with fellow students.

“Learning has to be a priority to them as well as getting along with each other because they are a small group that is going to be together for two years,” said Gibson. “Our 7th and 8th grade program is very unique and when our school was evaluated we were told that it was one of the best programs they had ever seen.”

This program has become this way, in part, because of the guidance of Gibson’s wife, Louise. 

“She is amazing,” he said. “She has been a big help to the school.”

Although Louise wasn’t originally planning on teaching when her husband first took the job, she quickly found herself at the front of the classroom.

“When we got here it was the week before school started and the teacher who was supposed to teach the 7th and 8th grade humanities program said she couldn’t do it,” recalled Gibson. “This meant that I had to find a 7th and 8th grade teacher three days before school started. Because I didn’t want to have a substitute, the only person I could turn to was my wife. ‘Honey, guess what?’”

Thankfully, Louise was up to the challenge and has been transforming the school program ever since. 

“She didn’t really hesitate,” said Gibson. “She was a distinguished writing and English teacher in Oregon and had a great reputation up there. Plus she had taught 7th and 8th grade humanities before, so she knew what she was doing. She probably worked 40 hours the couple days before school started and created six weeks of lessons.”

Although she was only teaching two periods, Louise seemed to be working not-stop.

“She was working until 6 p.m. every single night to create a program that she felt was worthy enough for these kids,” said Gibson. “And my vision and her vision was to have the Connections Academy be a true learning experience academically and artistically. She is constantly upgrading and researching and is never satisfied with her course. I tell her she is her own worst enemy because she says that after each year she will have it all down, but then the next year comes and she’s working on a new idea. She is all about learning and having fun and making it relevant. It’s still business…but in a good way.”

A lot of the junior high school ‘business’ is done on laptops, which have been purchased for each student.

“These are great because students can do their homework at home and online if the teacher sets it up,” said Gibson.

Although the high school students go without personal laptops, they are rewarded in other ways through their classes and teachers.

“For the high school, one of the signature programs is show choir,” said Gibson. “I love to listen to these guys sing. The 7th and 8th graders have a beautiful choir and the high school’s is just amazing – whenever I feel like I need a break I go and listen to them sing.”

Another exclusive class the school offers is film and animation.

“We put a lot of resources in that class to make it as close as possible to an actual film and animation studio,” said Gibson. “They have all the equipment that they need to make an animated film, including an editing machine. The instructor for this class, Cord Rawlinson, has been trained in animation and has his own animation company on the side, so we are very fortunate to have someone of his caliber to teach at our school.”

Like Rawlinson, the school is filled with instructors who have excelled in their field. Missy Hutchman, the ballet teacher, was part of a ballet company in New York. The school also has a dance contract with Randi Murray of Randi Murray’s Dance Studios who teaches specialized after school training with some of the kids in musical theater, lyrical ballet, ballet, jazz and tap. And to top it off, the students are able to interact with Grammy award winter Alan Copeland.

“What’s so beautiful about this county and this area is that we have so many amazing, talented people that come on the campus and give these kids a wealth of information,” said Gibson. “Copeland, for example, helps kids write music to accompany their films. He also writes music for our choir. He’s a great guy and kids love him.”

Not only are instructors from the community supporting the Academy, but the community as a whole has started to participate in what the school has to offer.

“The community now really supports our programs,” said Gibson. “We put on really high level plays for a high school and for the most part, our plays are sold out. Most high schools have a difficult time pulling off plays like West Side Story and Oklahoma because they don’t have a lot of depth…but we have a lot of depth.”

This is true, in more ways than one.

“I think we have an advantage by being a smaller school,” said Gibson. “It’s nice to be known on campus and a lot of times larger high schools don’t have the luxury of a smaller high school to be able to really understand and know all your kids. It’s very difficult at Summerville High school and Connections Academy to fade into the woodwork…it’s very hard to do. In fact for some of the kids it’s probably a curse,” he laughs. “They can’t hide!”

But Gibson hopes that his students never feel like they need to hide.

“I am very available to my students and so is Summerville High School’s administrative staff,” he said. “They are very available and we all have the same philosophy when it comes to kids. We want to support them the best that we can in their academics and their electives, but also we want to get to know who they are and to help them get through difficult times. My job is to support my students and their parents. That is what I am there for. I really work for them and that is what I tell them.”

Those interested in seeing these students perform should check out Summerville High Schools Music Program Fund Raiser “Swinging at the Ritz” on February 28th. Academy students will also be putting on a performance of Guys and Dolls in the upcoming months.  

For more information about the Connections Academy, call 928-4228 ext. 232.