Fairfield's Public Safety Academy prepares children for '21st-century jobs'

Jadine Arizealio, 10, leans in to see just how many paperclips are picked up by the magnet she and her partner, Alexander Argulo-Rios, 11, created in their science class at Fairfield's Public Safety Academy. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald, Vallejo)

Besides clear-eyed, courteous young cadets in light blue shirts over navy blue pants, one of the salient aspects of Fairfield's new Public Safety Academy are words or phrases over many classroom doors, typically reading something like "Your Character Really Counts."

"Character education is a huge piece of our story," Principal Kathy Frazer said during an interview at the Atlantic Avenue school, which began its first year last fall.

A school of choice, part of the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District, the PSA, as its called for short, is designed to provide a rigorous academic program and career preparation for those interested in law enforcement, firefighting, emergency response and other public safety-related fields.

Character

Mya Kiles (standing) explains some of the concepts she and her groupmates had to deal with in developing an analog of a biological cell out of a model of Air Force One, as classmate Harmony Anderson (left) looks on. (Mike Jory/Times-Herald, Vallejo)

and strong moral fiber is essential for those who work in such fields when lives, property and taxpayer dollars are at stake, so its development and nurturing is part of the school's curriculum, Frazer said.

She said the school's character education is based on the Josephson Institute's Six Pillars of Character. They are trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship, values that define ethical behavior and are not political, religious or culturally based.

"The reason people are getting washed out of the programs (law enforcement, firefighting or EMT training) is something that has affected their character," not necessarily academic failure, asserted Frazer, who oversees 380 students and 14 teachers at

the only school of its kind from the Bay Area to the Oregon border.

The PSA currently offers classes for fifth- through eighth-graders, with plans to add new grades each year until 2016-17, when its first senior class graduates, she said during the interview, accompanied by Fairfield Police Officer Larry Banks, the school's cadet training officer.

The school's curriculum focuses on subjects standard for any state elementary, middle school or high school, but science and mathematics are given more weighted attention, because of the nature of public safety, Frazer said.

And much of the classroom learning is hands-on, project-based and collaborative in nature, she said.

"The kids can learn, for example, why a (fire truck) ladder must be at a certain angle," or why certain scientific principles apply in fingerprinting and crime-scene investigation, she explained.

With two outdoor formations every day, weather permitting, one at 8:15 a.m., the other at 3:25 p.m., they also learn military bearing and organization and flag etiquette, including the proper raising, lowering and folding of the Stars and Stripes.

Aside from the uniforms, courtesy toward teachers and adults, and neat and groomed appearance, the students seem like any other California children attending an elementary or middle school, even if the PSA has a specific mission.

Teachers also seem to conduct their classes in normal ways, with a proper emphasis on standard academics, not public safety matters, "preparing students for 21st-century jobs," Frazer said.

In Room 13, teacher Elizabeth Allan engaged the class of 35 seventh- and eighth-graders in the norms of conversations, encouraging student responses -- "Soft skills that colleges and corporations expect students to know," Frazer said, adding that she and her staff are already preparing for the new Common Core State Standards, due to take effect in 2014.

In Room 9, fifth-grade science teacher Jean Hull explains direct and alternating currents, building series and parallel circuits, using 6-volt batteries, wires and small lights that glowed brightly when everything was connected. Large posters explaining "The Scientific Method" and "The Writing Process" were tacked to a classroom wall.

Outside of Barbara Guzzo's social studies class, cadet Aliyah Rivera, 12, told a visitor that she eventually wants to be an Air Force fighter pilot. After the A and B student, who especially likes mathematics and science classes, attends Stanford University, that is.

Follow Staff Writer Richard Bammer at Twitter.com/REBammer.

Source: http://www.thereporter.com/news/ci_22969173/fairfields-public-safety-academy-prepares-children-21st-century?source=rss

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