POULSBO — Schools across the United States are experimenting with a new method of educating high school students. And North Kitsap High School is about to join the growing ranks.

Many high schools in Washington, from Snohomish to Enumclaw, are drastically restructuring their educational models, dumping the traditional large lecture-style classroom for a “small school” — an environment where teachers and students work together on an integrated curriculum.

“The (current) system (of education) pushes as many kids through as possible,” said Christy Cole, NKHS assistant principal. “By redesigning the system, it will help kids achieve a potential that is in each and every one of them. They can’t do it in a factory model, but they can do it if (their education) is based around their needs.”

North Kitsap’s small school model — aptly named “Polaris International,” after the North Star — will open its doors in the high school’s current “H” building for the 2003-04 school year to anywhere from 220 to 350 kids. Applications are being accepted now, and Polaris candidates will be randomly selected to participate.

NK Administrators and teachers have created an initial plan for Polaris which they are sharing with the community, most recently at a Nov. 18 meeting at Poulsbo Junior High School.

The main difference of a small school is the connection between teacher and student through increased involvement and a more integrated curriculum, Cole explained Tuesday.

The day of a small school student starts with an advisory period, where students gather with a teacher to discuss the day ahead and receive an “essential question” that students take with them throughout the day that is integrated into each class they have.

Students stay with a core group each day and only a few teachers over the course of the school year. The same group might even stay together throughout high school. This increased connection between student and teacher, Cole said, stimulates better learning.

“The difference (with a small school) is a team of teachers works over a three year period together,” Cole said. “They get to know each other, and the teachers have the same students, so the students get to know the teachers.”

If all goes well, more small schools will be added in the district.

“We are looking at small learning communities as a whole,” Cole added. “At this point, we won’t be opening any other new small learning communities until 2006.”

North Kitsap High School could expand at that time to include more small schools, and Kingston High School, scheduled to open in 2006, will go completely to a small learning community format, with four small schools, one each per class of 200 students.

In North Kitsap, the idea of small schools first arose in “The Guiding Principles,” the school district’s master plan for education. After many meetings and focus groups, the plan is beginning to take shape. But there were concerns along with praises from parents at the Nov. 18 meeting.

Jay Stemmler of Indianola, a father of two sons in the district, said he is hoping one of his children will join the small school.

“We’re working with them to get them excited about it,” he said.

Stemmler said he likes the flexibility of the program.

“There’s more opportunity here to not to be held back if you accelerate, and not be overwhelmed if you have to step back,” he said.

But Stemmler said he wonders if small schools students will lose standing in the eyes of colleges and universities if they’re not allowed to take advanced placement (AP) classes.

“There’s a huge debate,” he said. “You may need to take AP classes, or you’ll have to articulate well on an application and great letters of reference.”

Students in small schools do have an advantage with letters of reference because of how well a teacher knows each student, Stemmler added.

Denise Stocks, whose son Craig has been home-schooled every year until now, said she would like her son to consider the program. But Stocks worries, like Stemmler, about possible interferences with outside programs.

“Craig is considering Running Start,” she said. “I left (the meeting) thinking (small schools and Running Start) might not be compatible.”

School board member-elect Dan Delaney’s son, Rickey, is also considering the program. Though Delaney likes the idea of small schools, he is uncertain as to whether extracurricular activities will be out of the question with Polaris.

“One of the problems I have is that I have tenth and eleventh graders in choir,” he said. “If it’s impossible for them to get into drama program (because of Polaris), that’s a problem.”

Ken Shawcroft, a father of two, who also coined the name “Polaris” for the project, also said he believes in the idea of the small learning community, but some kinks with extra activities will need to be worked out.

“I think its tough for students who have specific interests in co-curricular activities like band and choir, and that’s one of my son’s problems,” he said. “How you would integrate that into a school day would be tough.”