Students finding options at the CORE of learning

In a few months, 18-year-old Brittany Pack will receive her high school diploma — a semester earlier than most other seniors.

She’s ready to start taking classes at Ivy Tech Community College and talks excitedly about becoming a nurse.

But a year ago, her outlook didn’t look so promising.

As a student at Seymour High School, Pack found herself distracted and falling behind.
“I was taking care of my grandmother and just had a lot of stress going on in my life,” she said.

Add what many students call the drama of a high school setting, and it just became too much, Pack added.

That’s when she went to talk to a school counselor about enrolling in the high school’s CORE or Community, Opportunity, Responsibility and Education program.
“It’s been really helpful to me,” Pack said.

Sitting at a computer station Monday in a quiet classroom in the Jackson County Learning Center, Pack makes her way through an economics lesson, jotting notes as she goes.

Next to her, her friend, Mandy Dowden, 17, is tackling U.S. government.

Other students work on biology or English, but all are focused, quiet and learning.

The computer-based program allows students to work at their own pace in whatever subjects they need credits in, from math and English to science and social studies and even some electives. Students can also choose to complete work through workbooks and supplemental classroom materials.

Being able to work at their own pace is one of the major benefits of the program, students say.

“It’s helped me get the credits I need and pushed me to go to college sooner,” said Pack, who only needs five more credits to graduate. “If you stay on task and work hard, you can earn your credits a lot faster than you would in a normal high school class.”

Dowden agrees. After finishing her credits, she, too, is planning to take classes through Ivy Tech to become a nurse.

“You’re not wasting your time on things you already know,” Dowden said of the alternative program.

Making the grade

Each student takes an assessment test beforehand to gauge where they are academically. After each of the lessons they complete, students must pass quizzes, and at the end of so many lessons or modules, they must pass a skills mastery test, ensuring they know the material.

Teachers Christina Bush and Robin Cummings and classroom aide Dave Pollert are there to provide one-on-one assistance and to encourage students with their work.

“It gives them different opportunities to get their education,” Pollert said of the alternative program. “A lot of them wouldn’t finish their education if it wasn’t for this. It’s a better environment for the kids. They don’t have to worry about the same issues they would at the high school.”

Flexibility

There are 30 students in the program, about half of whom go for only half a day. The class is kept small, around 15 students in the morning and 15 in the afternoon, so each student receives more personal attention.

The flexibility allows students to earn their credits by completing school work on their own time in the evenings or extended hours on Fridays, as well as on weekends at the Jackson County Public Library and in the summer.

Students must be recommended to the program by their counselor, and there is a waiting list, Cummings said.

“We have kids that have to work and some that have children at home they have to take care of,” she said. “Others are pursuing vocational classes and training through the C4 program in Columbus or dual college credit through Ivy Tech, so the reasons they are in the program vary.”

To get away from the label of “alternative,” the program adopted the name CORE last year, which stands for Community, Opportunity, Responsibility and Education.

Cummings said she is trying to find ways for her students to be more involved in the community through volunteer work and job shadowing.

“I would love for them to have some more opportunities outside the classroom,” she said. “Those kind of experiences are important.”

Any group, organization or business that would be interested in working with the students may call Cummings at 528-1175.

SHS Principal Greg Prange calls the alternative program a “success story” in helping students graduate but says there is still a widely believed misconception within the community that the program only serves “problem” students.

“The initial alternative programs were aligned with a boys or girls school mentality, where students with discipline problems were dealt with, but that’s not the case anymore,” he said. “That’s what we want to get away from. We want people to know these are great kids with a lot of ambition and goals.”

Like junior Zalie Gerth.

She was so far behind in high school credits when she moved to Seymour, she didn’t think she would ever catch up.

“I’ve moved around a lot and gone to different high schools,” she said. “And because of that I’ve lost a lot of credits.”

With her progress in CORE, Gerth says she plans to graduate on time.

“I just need 16 more credits to graduate,” she said.

She attributes that to the different social environment the program provides.

“It’s a drama-free zone here,” she said.

She said she also likes being able to get her work done on her own time.

“You do it at your own pace, where at the high school the teachers move on whether you’re ready or not,” she said.

She says she can’t think of any drawbacks to being in the CORE program and because of it she has big plans for her future, including taking online college classes to major in several areas.

“There’s a lot I want to do,” she said. “And I’m going to do it all.”

Graduations up

Prange said it’s results for students such as Gerth and Pack that make CORE a valuable program.

“I can’t speak highly enough of this program and how it has evolved over the last several years,” Prange said. “It’s given our students more options. Nowadays, kids learn in different ways and on different time schedules.”

He credits the program with improving the school’s graduation rate from 71 to 88 percent over the past four years.

“It has provided us an avenue for these students, when 25 years ago they would have dropped out of school, not because of anything they had done but because we didn’t offer the programs they needed,” Prange said. “The 8 (a.m.) to 3 (p.m.) school model does not work for everyone, and with the No Child Left Behind Act, we are trying to come up with ways to leave no child behind, and this is one of them.”

Regaining ownership

The alternative program first started at the high school in 1997, and at that time was created to address students with behavior issues. Over the years, however, that focus has changed dramatically, Cummings said. She served as one of the program’s first teachers.

In 2002, the school corporation renovated the old Seymour-Jackson Elementary School into the Jackson County Education Center and moved the alternative program there, giving students their own building and ownership in their education.

Cummings didn’t make the move and remained at the high school as a classroom English teacher.

In 2009, school trustees decided to convert JCEC into a sixth-grade center to address crowding at Seymour Middle School, so the alternative program was moved back to the high school.

It was a decision Prange said he understood but one he knew would take a lot away from the alternative program.

“These are students who weren’t successful in a traditional high school setting,” Prange said. “So having them back here in the building exposes them to social factors or drama outside the classroom that has a negative impact on their educational experience.”

With the building of the new Jackson County Learning Center between Dupont State Bank and BridgePointe Goodwill store on the city’s eastside, the students once again have their own place, and Cummings has returned to the program.

“Being at the learning center equates back to being at JCEC,” Prange said. “The kids have a lot of ownership in the new building and are able to work in the same environment where adults are taking college courses. It allows them to realize that they can take college courses, too.”

Prange says the learning center “builds a good bond between the community and the school system.”

“The community does a good job of supporting education K-12 and these kids are an extension of that,” he said.

Pack says the move to the learning center has mostly been positive but there are some drawbacks.

She said she prefers the smaller, quieter environment of the center and the direct contact she is able to have with colleges.

“It’s quieter and you don’t have other classes disrupting you,” she said.

However, she says she feels like she might be missing out on some extra-curricular opportunities offered at the high school, as well as the benefit of having teachers with knowledge in particular subjects.

“Our teachers here are very good and helpful, but they don’t know everything about every subject,” she said.

Dowden said she likes being able to stay in one area and not having to move around so much during the day.

“You don’t have to get up and go to different classes,” she said. “So you get more work done.”
One of the downsides, Dowden said, is lunch.

“There’s no cafeteria, so I’m going to the vending machines for lunch,” she said.

The corporation’s food services program is working out a schedule to prepare and deliver breakfast and lunches to the learning center.

Many of the students say they also miss seeing their friends at the high school.

William Wills, 16, is a junior, and this is his first year in the program. He says the benefits of being in CORE outweigh the missed social opportunities.

“It’s not so crowded here and there’s no drama, so you get a lot more done,” he said. “But you don’t get to hang out with your friends.”

Wills said his reason for being in the program is simple.

“I needed a new environment,” he said. “Here, I’ve learned a lot and I like being able to do my work on the computers.”

Cummings said she is impressed by her students every day.

“They are working hard and challenging themselves,” she said. “I love these kids.”