Schoolmaster Jada Pinkett Smith Looking To Open High School

LOS ANGELES — Jada Pinkett Smith is adding another title to her resume: schoolmaster.

The 37-year-old actress-producer-musician and her husband, Will Smith, opened the New Village Leadership Academy last fall. The private school, for pre-kindergarten through sixth grade, has 60 students, according to the Web site.

Pinkett Smith hopes to open a companion campus for upper grades.

"My plan is to eventually have a high school," Pinkett Smith said. "I'm keeping my fingers crossed. I'm just trying to make it through this year."

Pinkett Smith, who is set to star in and executive produce a new series on TNT, said she decided to open the elementary school after creating a home-school program for her children, 10-year-old Jaden and 8-year-old Willow.

"More and more parents were like, 'Can we come?'" she said. "Then my house started to fill up. We had like 20 kids and I said, `We might as well start a school.'"

The New Village Leadership Academy generated some controversy when it was first announced because it relies on instructional methods developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. The school's director has said it isn't a Scientology facility.

Hubbard's "study technology" is a secular course akin to a Montessori approach, the Web site says.

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Pinkett Smith said the school stresses "100 percent mastery," encouraging students to retake exams until they score 100 percent. The student body is ethnically and economically diverse, she said, "which is a very difficult thing to find in Los Angeles, Calif."

She called the school project "serious business."

"It's probably the hardest thing I've ever done," she said, "but it is really rewarding."

Pinkett Smith shared her thoughts on education during a cocktail party celebrating her new show, "HawthoRNe," in which she plays a widowed nurse struggling to overcome her grief while balancing her duties at the hospital with those as a single mom of a teenage daughter. The show is set to premiere in June on TNT.

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On the Net:

http://www.nvlacademy.org/index.cfm

Comments

[trinity]

I take it that they don't fall under NCLB....

[lil11]

She is very beautiful.

[AnalyzeIT]

Gorgeous woman!!!

Do what you have too do Jada, more power to you.

[EggZacktly]

Scientology schools are not real schools, the following are quotes from exscientologists who went to the so called "schools"

1. "Are the teachers formally certified?
This varies from school to school, but usually, no. Most teachers are not governmentally certified to teach children. Usually, teacher training consists of having the teacher study some Scientology courses, and then the teacher must himself do all of the coursework he will be assigning to his students. If you are considering sending your child to a Scientology school, be sure to ask to see hard proof of teacher certification, and check references. "
2. "In a Scientology school, a B is the lowest grade you can get. Scientology schools sometimes use the high grades of their students to tout their program, but the fact is that no one is assigned a grade lower than B."
3. "Scientology schools do not believe in learning disabilities"
4. "While Scientology schools bill themselves as non-denominational, anyone who persists in expressing a reluctance to participate in the Scientology-heavy aspects of the curriculum is punished or expelled. There have even been one or two reports of well-behaved Scientology children getting thrown out of Scientology schools because their parents were in trouble with the church."
5. "Is there any actual Scientology on the curriculum?
Curriculums differ from school to school, but usually, yes. Most Scientology schools include introductory Scientology courses as part of the required curriculum­."

There is more:

http://exscientologykids.com/schools.html

[DnDCfromChi-town]

They have stated quite often that they do not practice Scientolgy. My goodness!!



http://www.usmagazine.com/will_smith_scientology_wasnt_for_me

[bibb]

Never heard of "Study Technology", but I know that any reputable school system would be crucified for using a curriculum that was not researched-based. Where is the objective literature on this method? I find educational materials developed by a science fiction writer to be seriously questionable, and would expect the same scrutiny of this program that established strategies receive. If there is information that exists that this has been reviewed by knowledgeable experts, then I would like to see it.

[ladydragon]

I'm sure that school will be a "Hot Mess" and Ghetto Fabulous. Girlfriend from the 'Hood; all the MAC make up and designer dresses in the world is not gonna change that. (she's from inner-Baltimore)

[NoSillyName]

Suppose they'll be using the Scientology Learning Method there, too.

[Eres]

Los Angeles Unified School District is preparing to lay off 10,000 teachers and staff this year and the district is in shambles. Anyone with the resources, connections and passion required to open a quality learning institution is welcome to give it a shot. LA kids need all the help they can get.

As for the derisive and ignorant comments from the peanut gallery -- the Smiths are residents of Los Angeles and contributing members of the community. Most of you are likely not, therefore, your negative feedback on the matter isn't really relevant. If you are sincerely concerned about education you should apply your energies to getting involve in your own communities.

[NoSillyName]

It is not a bad idea at all. Its just the "teaching methods" that are used in the P-S's schools.

They are "not" Scientologists, but give tons of money to the "church", hang out with other Scientologists, and use their methods in the schools.

Otherwise, I'd be applauding the P-Smiths.

[Eres]

I would agree with this point. Just as I would agree that we shouldn't have any other religions proselytizing in the schools.

[Ty90]

I think you're all just a bunch of idiots. Just shut up and stop trying to drag Jada now.

[LiberalBuzz]

OH lord, spare us this nonsense of an ethically and economically diverse student body.

What that translates to is finding enough RICH PEOPLE willing to be suckered into a SCAMOLOGY SCHOOL who are also minority.

Scamology does not believe in free ANYTHING, so it's going to cost an arm at least.

[mr lol]

It's not difficult to find diversity in LA. It was probably difficult to find parents that would send their children to a school where instructional methods were developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard.

[SwingVoter]

Keep up the work Mrs. Pinkett Smith

[NightAdder]

It's her money. She do vvtf she wants with it.

[msoverall]

Someone make this woman and her husband just go away. Is she even a college graduate? Heaven save us all from know-it-all celebs who think that fame and money means that they're smarter than the rest of us.

[scorpioleidy]

LOL! Good point - I don't think she graduated college ...

[LiberalBuzz]

It isn't a matter of trying to do good, it's the METHOD being used which is a scientology cult induction. I would be willing to bet dollars to donuts that before this gets to much further there were either be complaints from parents about the scamology indoctrination being subtly introduced or else the entire school is being populated by scamology kids who have no real choice but to follow the dictates of that madman LRH.

IF she was serious about building a good educational environment there are a lot of better methods than beating kids into a subject until the get a 100 percent on their test scores. What is she going to do with those that either just don't get it or refuse?

Boot them to the curb because they are not living up to the "ideals" of LRH and the scam artists at scamology?

[EggZacktly]

She dropped out of North Carolina School of the Arts during her freshman year. So, no, she has no degree, just one and a half semesters in an Art school.

[postman606]

Someone tries to take some of what they have to give back, and BAM, the hat.ers come crawling out of the woodwork.

[LollieDotCom]

Sounds more like 'pmsoverall' to me. Calcium and magnesium are good for that.

[kesiac]

Alot of moms who home school their children don't have a degree, and yet home schooled children excel. I think that it is absolutely wonderful that she is using her money and fame to promote academic excellence for our future. Im sure you prefer your celebrities a bit more shallow, but we can't have it all.

[KelaMa]

The problem is, homeschooled children do not excel. They do almost as well or far worse than regularly schooled children. I have had many homeschooled children transfer into my classes and their knowledge gaps and fallacies in their thinking are tremendous. They tell me the world is 6,000 years old and people used to live for hundreds of years! because I am a teacher, I must also add, there is no such word as "alot."

[coastalcarla]

You're wrong on that one. Out of all my friends' children, only four are home schooled. And they are NOT excelling. Because their mothers are not teachers. They barely finished high school. If the parent is a qualified teacher, then I say more power to them. But idiotic people with issues about the fact that there isn't enough religion in school are a large majority of home school parents. And they're not qualified. And the kids suffer. They most certainly do not get a well rounded education. They get a narrow view indoctrination instead.

[scorpioleidy]

I'm just glad she's got something else to occupy her time - and keep her away from singing in rock bands!

[AmbivalentGuy]

This is ridiculous.

What's with this "I'm a celebrity, I am capable of being all things
to all people."

besides, she said
The student body is ethnically and economically diverse,
she said, "which is a very difficult thing to find in Los Angeles, Calif.'"

If she's not smart enough to actually walk off of her compound to
see LA's diversity, then she's not smart enough to run a school.

Doesn't matter, it's a school for friends and selected outsiders.

[Eres]

Los Angeles is one of he most racially segregated cities in the U.S. Don't fool yourself.