Credo High School is a tuition-free, college prep public charter school in Rohnert Park, California

Rohnert Park, California

Rohnert Park is a city in Sonoma County, California, United States, located approximately north of San Francisco. The population at the 2010 United States Census was 40,971. It is an early planned city, modeled directly after Levittown, New York and Levittown, Pennsylvania. Rohnert Park is the...

, inspired by Waldorf education and serving students in ninth through twelfth grades. The school will open with a ninth grade class in the fall of 2011, and will add a grade each year until it is fully enrolled through twelfth grade in the 2014-2015 school year.

Curriculum and accreditation

As an alternative public school of the Cotati Rohnert Park Unified School District, Credo offers a rigorous academic curriculum that exceeds University of California admission requirements and includes a full complement of specialty subjects, including foreign languages (Spanish, Mandarin), visual arts (painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, photography), practical arts (media arts, blacksmithing, woodworking, bookbinding, ceramics) theater, music (choir, American music, orchestra) movement, dance and physical education, and biodynamic gardening and farming. Credo is beginning with a substantial garden, which will later grow into a farm campus with a significant sustainable agriculture component where students learn science, respect for the earth and practical skills particularly relevant in agricultural Sonoma County. Sports, clubs and extracurricular programs are offered after the academic school day. Credo is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).

Holistic education

Credo aims to deliver a truly alternative education, and include holistic elements in its curriculum that address the student as an entire person. These alternative additions, such as practical arts and biodynamic gardening, differentiate the school from traditional public and private schools. It also aims to be a feeder school for Waldorf students from the six North Bay Waldorf public schools including Sonoma Valley, Novato, Napa, Petaluma and the two schools in Sebastopol. The school still accepts students from traditional public schools as well, but primarily will give students the option to complete their education in the Waldorf system. According to Chip Romer, Director of Development, “The six Waldorf schools in the county all give students an incredible foundation for high school. But without a public Waldorf high school, many students haven’t been able to finish their education the Waldorf way.” By offering a solution to this gap in Waldorf education, Credo hopes to expand the experience of high school education, reaching beyond established academic standards to teach critical thinking, creativity, and collaboration; in an engaging college preparatory environment.

Name and principles

The word "credo" means "believe" in Latin. The name signifies that the school believes in and interweaves throughout its curriculum the following principles:

• The wisdom of youth
• The pursuit of truth, peace and love
• The value of creative expression and academic preparedness
• The interdependency of all life
• The practice of sustainability as a means to respect all life
• Leadership inspired by the highest good
• Practicing authenticity
• Welcoming responsibility
• Translating intentions into action
• Aligning individual capacities in service to others
• Engaging with and supporting our local community
• Developing ourselves as global citizens
• Taking risks that can yield learning and expansion
• Sharing our successes
• Celebrating our achievements

Campus

Credo High School is located at 1290 Southwest Boulevard in Rohnert Park, California, and will remain at this location for its first five years. Built as Richard Crane Elementary School and most recently home to El Camino High School, Credo's facility is centrally located in Rohnert Park, within walking distance of the Spreckles Performing Arts Center and Sonoma State University.

The campus has four main classroom buildings with four classrooms each, an administration building, a gym and a small performance space. Outdoor facilities include a soccer field, baseball diamond, basketball courts, a large paved play area and extensive lawns and garden spaces.

Commuting distance to Credo from our North Bay Waldorf K-8 partner schools is:

• Live Oak Charter School: 10.5 miles
• Novato Charter School: 24 miles
• Sebastopol Independent Charter School: 10 miles
• Stone Bridge School: 26.5 miles
• Sun Ridge Charter School: 12 miles
• Woodland Star Charter School: 19 miles

Collaboration with Sonoma Mountain Village

For the school year 2016-2017 and beyond, Credo High School is working in close partnership with Codding Enterprises to locate at Sonoma Mountain Village, which is planned as North America's greenest, most sustainable community. Credo and Sonoma Mountain Village presented a Sustainability Day field trip for regional eighth grades in September 2010 as the first of many collaborative learning presentations for student and adults. As Sonoma Mountain Village develops, Credo plans to locate permanently within the development so that Credo students can have the experience of attending school every day in the model sustainable city of the future.

External links

• Credo High School Home Page http://www.credohigh.org/
• Sonoma Valley Sun: Public Waldorf-based high school set to open http://news.sonomaportal.com/2010/11/18/public-waldorf-based-high-school-set-to-open/
• Sonoma Mountain Village: Is Green Suburbia Possible?http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/009448.html