Within two years it will reach 2,200 students. Even in building the school, compromises were made. Laguna built spacious well equipped science laboratories and two fine gymnasiums, but built a library with very limited space. They have a unique schedule where students spend most of their time in two major blocks, completing a semester of work in six weeks. The large block demands different instructional strategies than those found in 55-minute periods.
Students also take an advisement class during two of the six week sessions.
One teacher stays with a group of 25-30 students for their entire four years. School size was not a major issue. The staff at Laguna was more concerned with programmatic issues than the particular facilities decisions they made. In addition, we may want to learn more about multi-track elementary and middle schools. Visitations to career academies and satellite secondary schools would also be helpful.