If the mark of a private school is a mahogany palace of pretentiousness lorded over by a stern headmaster, then Hyla Middle School gets a failing grade.

“Headmaster” Paul Carroll laughingly rejects that stuffy title; his old metal desk is UW surplus and, in fact, there are no grades. Students help empty the trash, and the stuffed rats atop the rubble on Carroll’s desk are comic references to one of the many species of wildlife thriving in the 13 acres surrounding the Bucklin Hill homestead that houses the school.

Hyla opened in fall 1993 in an Ericksen Avenue office building with 14 students in grades 6-8. A dozen parents, teachers and administrators founded the school to offer a choice between large and small schools.

A decade later – the school formally celebrates its 10th anniversary this month – Hyla’s 89 students, 10 teachers and six staff members thrive in the historic quarters near Lynwood Center where they’ve been since 1994. Three buildings have been added, producing a facility that now offers 10 classrooms, a library, a computer room, an office and a kitchen.

“The degree to which the school has been built up is completely and totally beyond our expectations,” Carroll said.

Three of the original group are still involved – Carroll, math teacher Chris Johnson and science teacher George Gerdts.

The mission remains the same – to stay small and provide an environment in which the students “are intrigued with learning… (with) close, caring connections between teachers and students that encourage students to respect and value themselves and others – (and) a strong academic program that develops competent, self-reliant problem solvers.”

A tall order, some might say, when you’re talking about kids 11 to 14 years old.

“There’s a certain kind of person who likes middle school students,” Carroll said. “Some say, ‘Give me cuddly, warm elementary kids‚’ or ‘mature, intellectually capable high schoolers.’ But middle school is a very interesting mix of dawning intellectual capabilities and childlike enthusiasm, energy and excitement about new things.

“These kids are just realizing there’s a bigger world around them and when they get it, they are up out of their seats. It’s neat, really. If you turn it around, elementary students don’t get it and high school kids are slumped down in their seats.”

Each year, students are turned away, but Hyla resists the urge to grow. The maximum class size is 15. By comparison, Woodward Middle School’s population is about 643 and its average class size about 28, according to a staff member there.

“There’s not a kid here who I don’t know their name, and their parents’ names,” Carroll said. “There are some kids for whom a bigger school is the perfect answer, and they thrive. And for others, a smaller school is the answer.”

Stewart Taylor and Elizabeth Bowden’s son Bevan, age 14, is in the eighth grade. Taylor, a landscaper, said the primary reason they chose Hyla was class size.

“That’s the bottom line,” he said. “It’s not that I think private schools have a lock on good teachers. But it’s definitely a nice, gentle environment, especially for that age group, and there is basically a full-time counselor and human relations teacher.”

As far as Bevan is concerned, the primary attraction is the opportunity to choose electives – one in physical education and one “general” – every couple of months, and the opportunity to go places. His PE elective now is “mud games,” in which students meet on the soccer field, “hope for rain and try to get as muddy as we can.”

At the end of each year, kids choose from several “exploration week” trips. Bevan has been river-rafting in Utah, and geology-viewing in a driving trip through Idaho and Montana.

If he had to pick his least favorite Hyla factor, it would be “quite a bit of homework. I’m not sure what Woodward’s is like, but I have one to two hours of it every night – I have time for other stuff on weekends but I can’t really do anything else during the week.”

Kitty and Rob Grant’s daughter Jamie, age 14, attended Sakai in the sixth grade, then entered Hyla where she’s now in the eighth grade. An Island School graduate, Jamie at first wanted to go to a bigger, public middle school.

“But girls are so sensitive at that age, it was really worthwhile for her to go to Hyla because of the smaller class sizes and individual attention,” Kitty Grant said. “I liked the security that the teachers knew who my child was.”

That’s part of the attraction for Jamie, as well.

“You really get to know everybody and the teachers really know you as a person, as opposed to just another student,” Jamie said. “And that’s cool.”

Hyla’s student body is mixed. It’s not for the “bad” kids or the “odd” kids or the “rich” kids nor any other specific group, Carroll said.

“We have a tremendous spectrum – quiet and shy, brilliant, struggling, angry and rebellious – you name it,” he said. “Maybe it’s not as much of a spectrum as the public school, but if you knew our kids, you wouldn’t be able to pigeon-hole them.”

Tuition

About 20 percent of the students are on some form of financial aid to meet the $10,750 academic-year tuition, up considerably since the opening-year tuition of $6,500. The average size of aid is $5,000, with the range between $1,500 and full tuition.

Fund-raising is constant. The annual auction is set for March 1 this year at Wing Point Golf and Country Club.

While students may be graded on individual projects and specific work, an emphasis on consistent communication between school and home – conferences and written comments – takes the place of grades.

“(Not assigning grades) works in the middle school level, but not in high school,” Carroll said. “I think grades have a much more damaging effect on kids, as far as motivation is concerned. Academically, it’s awfully hard to feel good about a grade that tries to summarize so much – writing, oral tests, discussions, building things, projects. To stamp it all with one little grade seems ridiculous.”

After-school and extracurricular offerings are dependent upon teacher interest and time. A quilting club started recently, and a group meets every Thursday afternoon to use the climbing wall in the barn. Other activities include a group for children of divorce, a student-organized chess club, soccer, ultimate Frisbee, track and homework help.

The school is owned and directed by a 14-member board. The relationship with Bainbridge public schools has been positive, Carroll said. About two-thirds of Hyla’s students come from the public system and the vast majority go back.

Each student in Bainbridge public schools translates into about $3,361 from the state, according to figures from the 2000-2001 year, said Bainbridge Schools business officer Dana Walline. The Hyla student body, assuming at least 75 percent are islanders, represents the loss of more than $225,000 for the district.

Even so, public school officials like Assistant Superintendent Faith Chapel and Bainbridge High Associate Principal Dean Fritts agree the relationship is positive.

Fritts said the performance of private middle school students versus Woodward Middle School students is not tracked, and he isn’t aware of who came from where.

“I am glad to have competition on the island. I think that makes all of us better,” Fritts said. “I’m glad they’re around.”

When the school opened, Carroll had been an islander only two years, so he wasn’t sure how this new school would be received, or how it would progress.

So what does he think of this 10-year milestone, now that many of Hyla’s original class members have graduated from college and spent their first year in the “real world?”

“The work that’s been done here is amazing. I’m proud. Stunned. To see what the community has given the school over 10 years is amazing,” Carroll said.