Wawasee Academy Offers Alternative Setting

MILFORD -ÊNot all students can learn in a traditional school setting or through the traditional teaching style.

Tuesday, Wawasee Academy Director Sharon Sigler gave the Wawasee School Board a presentation on the Academy - Wawasee's alternative learning program - and "our vision for what we hope the academy can be," she said.

The Academy is a positive alternative high school with a nontraditional setting for those who were unsuccessful in the traditional high school setting, she said. "They all don't learn the same and we need to address that."

Currently, the Academy has a morning hour and evening sessions. The evening sessions meet Monday through Thursday from 5:30 to 8:15 p.m. Four teachers are involved with the program, each teaching one night of class per week. The morning session is 6:30 to 7:30 a.m.

So far this year, students in the Academy have earned 70 credits, and 120 are expected to be earned by the end of the year.

Thirty-two students are enrolled in the program and two are fifth-year seniors who have earned enough credits for a high school diploma.

"We think we'll have enough for three graduates this year," Sigler said.

There are at least four kinds of students in the Academy.

A credit retrieval student is retaking a class they failed in the traditional high school. Preference for acceptance into the Academy is given to those students who are close to graduation and/or need English credits. The Academy classes may be taken for four or fewer credits per year.

A Form 16 student is a student the administration places into the academy on a probationary basis instead of expelling the student. A displaced student is a student the high school is not able to accommodate and register for classes and, by participating in the Academy, can earn credits.

A graduate track student is one who applies for admittance into the track program and has to be interviewed before being accepted.

Students accepted into the graduate track program are students who plan to stay in the Academy and graduate and are willing to work toward a diploma. They have to agree to take a minimum of three classes every trimester and attend school 16 hours a week and attendance is mandatory.

Sigler said there are several reasons to make changes to the program.

Currently, there are time restrictions. Some students are uncomfortable in the current setting. The school corporation can save money on homebound instruction and by making changes, NovaNet can become more cost effective. NovaNet is the curriculum computer program used by the Academy. However, NovaNet is only used approximately four hours a day and isn't used the rest of the day.

One change Sigler said they'd like to incorporate is increased hours. The proposed schedule would have classes begin at 6:30 a.m. and there'd be classes all day until 6:30 p.m. It would be closed an hour for lunch, and some kind of elective would be offered from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m.

Benefits of the Academy, Sigler said, include improved graduation rates, a decrease in the number of dropouts and helping keep students on target.

"We've kind of taken two different kind of schools and put them into one," Sigler said of the Academy. "We think it would be a dynamite program and I'm excited about it."

Sigler said they would also like to separate those who want to learn from those who have to attend.

One student in the Academy is Forest Somers. He said what he likes about the Academy is the one-on-one attention.

"For me," he said, "it's been easier. I've learned better."

In the Academy, he said, there's less distraction. He would "definitely" recommend the Academy to other students who need not only one-on-one help but those with social problems, he said.

Wawasee High School Principal Alan Frank agreed with Somers. He said, "If we could get past the school being the social place, a lot of kids would benefit. ... There are kids who don't learn because they are preoccupied with relationships."

Students unsuccessful in the Academy, he said, are usually the students there because they were expelled and really don't want to be there.

Sigler said students like Somers may not do well in the traditional day school but do well in the Academy.