The year was 1973. Richard Nixon was President of the United States, the landmark case of Roe v. Wade was decided by the Supreme Court, the cost of a gallon of gas was 40 cents, the average income per year was $12,900, and the infamous “Battle of the Sexes” match took place between Billie Jean King and Bobby Riggs. That same year, in TUSD, Paige Harper, the Principal of Julien Elementary School, came up with a novel idea—what if students in grades K-3 could be grouped together in a “specially designed open setting” in an environment akin to an “extended family.” The name for his idea? The Pod. 

Forty-four years later Principal Harper’s “brainstorm” is still going strong in TUSD with a new generation of students and teachers. Today, Jill Kline (K), Dave Judish (1), Kim Smith (2), and Jane Serpa (3)—or Jill, Dave, Kim, and Jane as they are known to their students—carry on Principal Harper’s vision and continue to espouse the Pod’s mission statement: “The Pod, a four year, multi-age program is based on the concept of ‘extended family,’ the worth of the individual child in a specially designed environment that supports academic achievement, acquiring self-discipline, and assuming responsibility for his or her own learning.”

Each spring, a new crop of parents applies for one of the 24 coveted kindergarten slots in the Pod. First priority goes to siblings of children already in the Pod and second priority goes to those in the Julien attendance area. Those kindergarteners admitted to the Pod, enjoy a family-type atmosphere in which older students mentor younger ones and students of all grade levels have the opportunity to interact during home group time. Teachers also enjoy close collaboration with their peers and the multiple opportunities for “vertical articulation” that occurs during the course of every school day. It isn’t unusual to find former Pod teachers like Marti Brown volunteering to help in the Pod classroom. That’s just what family do. A lot of things have changed in the past four decades, but it’s nice to know that Julien Elementary staff and Principal Angela Freeman have been able to keep Principal Harper’s original vision for the Pod the same.