After an outside review of Alternative Education needs for the Tahoma School District the New Horizons program began implementation in the fall of 2008. As a part of this new plan, Tahoma Junior High and Tahoma Middle School were identified to host a program variation as well. Budget cuts eliminated the Middle School program and the Junior High program did open this past fall.
Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships have served as a foundation for these students that lack a relationship with their schools, find little relevance in a college prep curriculum and have almost no support from home that provides them with the skills to approach school with any rigor. The other aspect of these students is that they are often out of school, moved, and or run away from home. Other aspects of these students include hyperactivity, attention deficit disorders, mental health issues and a history of failure.
Having a "Safe" place in the school has been one of the major directions deemed necessary as these kids struggle to stay in school. Research has shown that as these kids stay in school while building relationships and beginning to feel safe at school, they can begin to improve and develop their academic performance.
At the Junior High students were selected by counselors to begin the program since there was no way to address an entry process at its inception. Unfortunately, there had been no real introduction to the staff regarding this program, just that it was going to happen. None of the assumptions about these kids were ever discussed openly, and as the year progressed these assumptions grew.
These kids are bad kids and will never change
They are just being enabled
They don't belong here, and should be housed elsewhere
They are responsible for the drug and alcohol problems at our school
They are agressive, defiant, and violent
They don't care about school
They will never complete school and don't care about doing any work.
They can't behave and should be dismissed
All of these assumptions are present in the survey and it is clear that there needs to be a lot of work done with the staff and community if this program is going to continue. I have pulled data from the discipline records that show that the Alternative Education program has not only reduced by 66% the discapline referrals for students, they have also been a very minor part of the activities that require suspension and/or expultion. The Alternative Education student's account for about 16% of the suspension/expultion incidents. Two of these students were moved out of the school and program as soon as their behaviors violated their contracts. It is important to note that the students that caused the most severe disruptions were allowed back in school several times, and were either expelled finally or back in school. At no point was this process discussed as an Alternative Education issue but dealt with through the buildings discapline process.
Rigor, Relevance, and Relationships have served as a foundation for these students that lack a relationship with their schools, find little relevance in a college prep curriculum and have almost no support from home that provides them with the skills to approach school with any rigor. The other aspect of these students is that they are often out of school, moved, and or run away from home. Other aspects of these students include hyperactivity, attention deficit disorders, mental health issues and a history of failure.
Having a "Safe" place in the school has been one of the major directions deemed necessary as these kids struggle to stay in school. Research has shown that as these kids stay in school while building relationships and beginning to feel safe at school, they can begin to improve and develop their academic performance.
At the Junior High students were selected by counselors to begin the program since there was no way to address an entry process at its inception. Unfortunately, there had been no real introduction to the staff regarding this program, just that it was going to happen. None of the assumptions about these kids were ever discussed openly, and as the year progressed these assumptions grew.
These kids are bad kids and will never change
They are just being enabled
They don't belong here, and should be housed elsewhere
They are responsible for the drug and alcohol problems at our school
They are agressive, defiant, and violent
They don't care about school
They will never complete school and don't care about doing any work.
They can't behave and should be dismissed
All of these assumptions are present in the survey and it is clear that there needs to be a lot of work done with the staff and community if this program is going to continue. I have pulled data from the discipline records that show that the Alternative Education program has not only reduced by 66% the discapline referrals for students, they have also been a very minor part of the activities that require suspension and/or expultion. The Alternative Education student's account for about 16% of the suspension/expultion incidents. Two of these students were moved out of the school and program as soon as their behaviors violated their contracts. It is important to note that the students that caused the most severe disruptions were allowed back in school several times, and were either expelled finally or back in school. At no point was this process discussed as an Alternative Education issue but dealt with through the buildings discapline process.
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