She hired her own staff of teachers, many from Fletcher and Maynard, and others who came from out of the district.
When the merger was approved last spring, the new school's curriculum was overhauled.
The school will begin using Core Knowledge, a standardized curriculum produced by a national consulting firm and tailored to each specific school's needs.
At the same time, the school uses the Literacy Collaborative reading program and the Peace Games peer mediation program.
Next year the new school will begin using NetSchools, an Internet-based curriculum for learning how to use technology.
Harris is charged with making all of the initiatives work in conjunction with one another. She calls her approach to developing the new curriculum "slow" and "deliberate."
"We're not trying to do it all at once," she says.
She says the new curriculum initiatives are part of a broader change in expectations for students at the new school.
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