John Dewey was formed by a contract with the Green Bay AreaPublic School District. It operates on a five-year contractual term, the maximum allowed by Wisconsin state law. The next school year in which the contract will be again up for discussion is 2020-21. After the 2018-2019 school year, the school moved from Harvey Street to Cherry Street, remaining on the east side of the city. The Cherry Street School was converted from an old office building and also houses the other charter school in Green Bay, the Northeast Wisconsin School of Innovation.
Leadership
Unlike most schools, JDAL operates largely without a principal, relying mainly on the lead adviser Jen Agamaite and a parent and community Governance Council for leadership.
Education
Advisories
JDAL utilizes Project Based Learning, ALEKS, Achieve3000, and a series of seminars taught by community members, parents, students, and staff. JDAL differs in operation from what is commonly found in high schools within the United States, and instead employing a classroom approach similar to an elementary or primary school, in which students remain in a single room for the majority of the school day. As of October 2019, there are five of such classrooms, colloquially referred to as 'advisories'. Within each advisory, a staff member familiar with a subject, or a series of subjects is found. Students are assigned to the advisories with some degree of randomness and generally remain within the same advisory throughout their schooling.
Seminars
As a conjunctive to projects, students often sign up for Seminars, a limited-term engagement varying from a few weeks to an entire semester. These courses are taught by existing staff, students, parents, and community members, under the supervision of one or more advisers. Seminars were briefly removed but brought back for the 2018-2019 school year, and have continued since then.
Capstones
By senior year, students often have few credits left to earn before meeting the Board of Education's requirements for graduation. As such, seniors spend most of their time conducting a Capstone project which exists as a culmination of their learning and typically involves over 500 hours of work. Capstone projects often have major effects on the school as a whole, and often impact the community in general.
Community Outreach
As a part of the curriculum of JDAL, students must attain a minimum of 150 service hours by graduation and has several service learning campaigns throughout the school year.
