Tonight: How SAMI Will Integrate With Point Defiance

This evening you’re invited to a discussion of what Tacoma’s Science and Math Institute will look like. SAMI students have been attending classes in a cluster of portables inside Point Defiance Park since the school opened in 2009. But that will be changing.

SAMI will be one of the first schools to get an upgrade courtesy of the $500 million bond Tacoma voters passed for their public schools last year. The timeline puts completion in time for classes to start in fall 2015. What the upgrade will look like is still up for discussion, though. And it could be another way that the school will be unique.

The vision has always been that the park would serve as a kind of outdoor classroom and laboratory for the school, which gives students a curriculum heavy on science and math, and encourages students to take ownership of their education. The News Tribune last week shared some of the discussion and speculation about ways the school could integrate with the park, including the possibility of buildings at multiple locations, and the potential to use SAMI facilities as community learning centers. The possibilities are intriguing…