North Kitsap’s shining star will make its debut next year but answers to the question whether the Polaris program will improve our education system or simply create two competing halves of the same whole is likely years away.

The primary concern expressed by students is that the new small school will create a schism of sorts at North Kitsap High School that will resort in an identity crisis. Others opposed to the concept have taken rumors as truth and falsely believe that Polaris students can’t participate in sports, will have problems getting into college and can’t take Advanced Placement courses.

None of these rumors are true.

The system is working already around the nation and in the State of Washington.

True, the idea is somewhat new in North Kitsap but considering that the new high school in Kingston is going to be drafted in the small schools model for 2006, shouldn’t we at least start working in that direction? Polaris isn’t a “guinea pig” idea, either.

It’s results are proven elsewhere.

Improved teacher-student interaction, reduced drop- out rates, more parent involvement, better grades and cost effectiveness are a few documented reasons that the system is catching on nationally. They can do the same thing here and should do so, if the public and the students give the method the chance it deserves.

It’s new here and sometimes new things can be a bit frightening but think of the good that comes from invention. The wheel and the lightbulb may have seemed like far out concepts at one point in history and now it’s impossible to imagine our world society without them. Why were they created?

Necessity, as the age old saying goes.

Small schools are borne out of the same need. Many kids are dropping out, taking drugs and simply falling through the gaps in the education system. And while small schools won’t serve as a miracle cure for these ailments, it will provide the” medicine” needed to begin the healing process.

This isn’t a band-aid.

Small schools are impacting and improving thousands of students in the U.S. right now, from the East Coast to the east side. Isn’t that the goal of education in a nutshell? Making sure students are well-rounded and prepared for the world we have put before them?

While this is occurring already to some degree in the district, there is room for improvement.

Polaris is the first step down this road and, in this paper’s estimation, the path to great things.