Meet Patrick Malley.

The Niles High School history and psychology teacher has a new job as the dean of the Niles New Tech Entrepreneurial Academy.

Malley was given the job by Superintendent Richard Weigel and has been on board with making the New Tech school a reality since taking a visit with a number of school officials and teachers to the New Tech school in Bloomington Ind. last May.

“It blew my mind,” Malley said, sitting in his makeshift office at the Westside Administration Building. “It was the kind of learning environment I had always wanted to teach in.”

The pitch for the Niles New Tech school has been made and the school board approved the go-ahead with the project, which puts Malley at the forefront of getting his teachers trained and prepared, his students recruited and the questions of curious parents answered.

And he’s armed with a generous amount of enthusiasm.

There will be six spots open for teachers, Malley said, and the posting for interested job applicants has been done, with applications being accepted now and interviews to begin after Feb. 24.

“We are only hiring internally,” Malley said. Teachers who accept the position with the academy will go through specialized training of New Tech techniques and methods.

“This is about rigor,” he said, describing the curriculum as “teacher intensive.” Students will still take tests based on their projects and be held to the same required state standards as outlined by the Department of Education.

“For the teacher who wants to teach in a project based learning environment,” Malley said, it’s his job to supply the system and the structure.

And for students, Malley is at the front of providing what will be a select 125 freshmen a new opportunity.

In addition to speaking with parents at parent-teacher conferences, Malley will be speaking to current eighth-graders.

Those interested in attending will have a chance to fill out an “application of interest,” Malley said.

“There is no selection criteria,” he said. “We want a demographic mirror of our school.”

The first 50 applications will be accepted on a first come, first serve basis. The remainder will be chosen by a “stratified lottery” to ensure the demographics of the New Tech Academy match that of Niles High School.

“We want it to be as fair as possible,” Malley said. “I don’t want anyone to say New Tech does well because we have smart kids. I want them to say New Tech does well because the methods are different.”

Asked how he would address criticism of those who would feel the selection process could keep their children from getting into the academy, Malley said, “If you really believe your kid is really right for this model — be a part of the model, be one of the first 50.”

It seems as though months of preparation are beginning to transform into action. In August, Malley said he assembled a committee to engage teachers.

“I knew in order to be successful, it had to be a grassroots effort,” he said.

He scheduled visits to New Tech schools and said he saw an “overwhelming response” of support.

“All of our motivation was, we want this for our kids … we just want to see it happen,” he said.

It will be Malley’s job now to teach those who are still wondering just what a New Tech school is about the project-based learning techniques that will applied to non-traditional classrooms.

“In a traditional classroom, students might do a project,” Malley said. “In New Tech, the project is the curriculum.”

Courses will be integrated. Say hello to American Studies, an integrated course of English and history; Bio-Art, blending biology with art and; and Math-Math a combination of geometry and algebra.

Transcripts will look the same, Malley said, with students earning credits for each of their required subjects.

“I’m going to hold these teachers to the exact same standards the state requires,” he said.

Malley calls the transition to New Tech a “culture change” and Niles High School will go through some physical changes itself. A hallway of the school has been designated specifically for New Tech.

With some renovation the area will be home to three double-classrooms with 45 kids to a room as well as a teachers’ cockpit, which encourages collaboration, Malley said.

Students will still take part in extracurricular classes during their first periods of school. After that, the rest of their day will be spent in the classrooms of the academy.

Over the next several months, likely right up until the first day of school, there will be plenty more to learn about the inner workings of the Niles New Tech Entrepreneurial Academy.

It’s safe to say the new dean wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s going to be tough,” he said. “But it’s my job to turn this big, huge idea into a reality.”