profile

Harbor City International School
Grades 9 - 12
332 W Michigan St, Ste 300
Duluth, Minnesota 55802

Mission
Harbor City International School is a public charter school serving grades nine through twelve. We provide a small, learner-directed community that encourages investigative learning, global citizenship and nurtures a sense of belonging. Our purpose is to graduate students who are knowledgeable, discerning, passionate, creative and reflective.

Mission Directives
Serve the student who believes learning is a life-long pursuit that continues beyond the doors of the school building and after graduation.

Serve the student who is stimulated by a challenging curriculum that will prepare them for a world that requires diverse, flexible, and creative thinkers.

Serve the student who recognizes that a well-rounded perspective is global in its reach.

Serve the student who seeks the opportunity to learn both independently and with direction.

Create a school culture that gives students exciting reasons to be active community members as well as energetic learners.

HCIS Student Vibe
We as students will strive to create a place to learn that is comfortable, safe, and full of laughter. We will have respect and trust for teachers and fellow students, with freedom and responsibility. We’d like HCIS to be a place where everyone can be themselves and where everyone can fit in. It will be a place where all are teachers and learners. We want to create a fun environment where we can be comfortable with our self images. We are looking for a “uni-clique”—everyone working and living as one. We, as contributive HCIS students, will be engaged in our learning. We believe in actively sharing ideas through debate, positive conversation, and discussion of current events. HCIS is our school.


Spirit and Purpose of Harbor City International School
HCIS serves as a compass for an individual’s learning. It is a learning community that provides direction to its students while allowing the individual to create his or her own map of knowledge. HCIS provides an opportunity for students with strong ability and desire to meet their own education goals while simultaneously meeting the standards set by the State of Minnesota.

Harbor City International School maintains a small learning environment where students can participate in the creation of a community, from which they gain a sense of “belonging” within their school, thus lending them a greater sense of place and purpose within their world community. HCIS recognizes the need to provide an environment that values the development of individual identity and that fosters the transition to adulthood.

Instructional Focus
Harbor City International School (HCIS) will use a curriculum design that combines the “best practices” of several school models. The Minnesota Graduation Standards will shape the content portion of the learning program. The second important feature of the HCIS design will be inquiry-based learning as modeled by the Minnesota New Country School in Henderson, Minnesota and the School of Environmental Sciences in Apple Valley, MN. We believe this combination of school design models will challenge students to perform at levels consistent with independent preparatory schools, and adequately prepare them for learning experiences after high school. Minnesota Graduation Standards will be addressed and achieved in both the content and experiential learning components of the HCIS learning program.

An essential element to of our curriculum design philosophy is the idea that individual learning styles, strengths, weaknesses, interests, and passions are recognized as key to a student’s success. We will therefore establish avenues which will enable teachers to plan, teach, and encourage students based on their individual needs and drives. The following design aspects will help to insure these objectives: Individual Learning Plans with supporting software; being a smaller school with lower teacher/student ratios; potential career-focused learning, project class; inquiry-based learning activities; service learning program; field studies; travel program; international exchange program; creative arts; and contract grading.

Accountability:
Harbor City International School will provide an educational program that remains viable throughout its three-year charter term and into successive terms. To that end, HCIS is a member of Minnesota Association of Charter Schools, and is one of the only public high schools in the area that is accredited by the North Central Association Commission on Accreditation and School Improvement.

Harbor City International School abides by all rules set forth by the State of Minnesota Department of Education. The school will also utilize all charter school services and education programs offered by the State in its efforts to maintain good accountability practices.

In order maintain good communication and a cooperative relationship with our charter authorizer, Volunteers of America: Minnesota, a representative from that organization attends quarterly school board meetings.