Gateway Community Charters - Dreams and Aspirations

Dreams and Aspirations

Pre-school/Early Childhood Learning:

With an increased interest in the area of Childhood Learning and Early Education by Governor Newsom and other local elected officials. The GCC Board and staff level discussions have touched on the community interest in GCC increasing our offerings in relation to the younger child. Community and staff believe that access to quality learning environments at a young age lead to later academic success. This discussion has centered on our communities of high need. Except for TK – this is a departure from our current funding sources and is a bandwidth issue as to expertise as well.

GCC Alumni:

As the GCC enters its eighteen year we continue to look for ways to meaningfully and intentionally engage our Alumni. The benefit of engaging our Alumni beyond their time at a GCC school is priceless. We see this as an opportunity to have Alum return as mentors, classroom speakers, and future employees. We anticipate creating a system that will utilize data tracking and other systems that will keep us in relationship with our Alumni and provide another vehicle to substantiate success.

Aviation and/or Aerospace Pathway, Program and/or Charter:

Over the course of the last three years, the GCC has developed a renewed relationship with our partner, the Aerospace Museum of California. The Executive Director is an active member of our Community Business and Advisory Council, and our Deputy Superintendent is a member of their Education Program Committee. We continue to look for ways that we can support both entities as such; further meetings, discussions, and research are proposed to discuss options and viability. During the 2022-23 school year work will begin to explore a CTE Pathway at CCCS with an Aerospace focus. (NOTE: The GCC held an aerospace charter for 5 years and voluntarily chose not to renew it due to quality considerations.)

Performing Arts Program

With the acquisition of the former McClellan AFB theater, GCC has always had a dream to provide a performing arts education and program to our students and community. This program would be founded on our belief that the education of the whole child includes ongoing exploration in dance, drama, music, and visual arts. This program concept would involve opportunities to play, invent, and discover while building on the cross-cultural experience and development of our students.

Café Concept Replication:

Through our existing and robust partnership with the Aerospace Museum of California, an opportunity to replicate the Firehouse Café project concept with a cafe located at the museum to be named “Props Cafe.” The museum would host the Café that would, in addition to serving the patrons of the museum but would include a “living history” project that will capture the stories of flight and aerospace history in the North Highlands, McClellan, and Sacramento County.

New Classroom Based CTE Charter:

The GCC is exploring the concept of a new classroom-based vocational charter with a Project- Based Learning/CTE academic framework used to provide active, hands-on, and relevant educational experiences for our region’s most at-risk students. The charter will create cross curricular experiences allowing students to work on real-life projects, develop and practice skills under the mentoring of professionals, and contribute to our community in very tangible and meaningful ways. This school will be designed to address an increased need to provide Career Technical Education training to high school students to fill labor market demands in the Sacramento region.

International Baccalaureate (IB) High School:

The GCC currently has three K-8 schools in various stages of IB implementation and certification. GCC board and staff have held strategic discussions over multiple years regarding a small IB High School (Middle Years Programme and Diploma Programme) for the three schools to feed into as a strategic future move. The location would need to be in the epicenter of the other three locations, and transportation might need to be considered. It is expected that this charter petition would begin development concurrently with the exploration of possible locations and political ramifications.

GCC Mobile Medical Clinic:

School-based health care is a powerful tool for achieving health equity among children and adolescents who unjustly experience disparities in outcomes simply because of their race, ethnicity, or family income. Critically needed services like medical, behavioral, dental, and vision care directly in schools so that all young people, no matter their zip code, have equal opportunity to learn and grow. In the communities that GCC serves, there is a high need for health care services for students. By integrating into the education environment, school-based medical clinics contribute directly to the school’s mission and deliver outcomes such as reduced student absenteeism and early intervention and identification for special services and support. GCC staff will work to identify a health care partner to join us in implementing this concept.