ANSON — Addressing the Board of Education at the Monday, March 25 meeting, Dr. Mary Ratliff announced, “Mr. (Howard) McLean assigned me the task of researching the feasibility of an alternative school versus an alternative program.”
As part of her research, Ratliff toured Montgomery County Alternative School Program and Richmond County Schools, finding that the schools serve grades six through twelve on the same campus. She determined the setup worked for both schools as the sixth and eighth grade students are educated in a different area of the school from upperclassmen.
“They have separate lunches and they do not intermingle during the day,” informed Dr. Ratliff.
Great pains are taken to ensure age segregation, as Ratliff notes that students also remain apart for physical education classes and scheduled recesses.
Both districts explained to Dr. Ratliff that the decision to combine grades is one of safety.
“They felt like if they could address the issue early, they had a good chance of correcting the issue. If you wait until the ninth grade, then kids are already indoctrinated,” counseled Ratliff.
Acknowledging that she had no idea what to expect, Ratliff admitted, “I was really surprised by the atmosphere at both schools. I noticed that most of the students looked like they were very engaged. I did not see any of the behaviors I had expected to see.”
A practice employed by the schools that struck a chord with Ratliff, is hanging brightly colored posters announcing affirmative messages on school walls, gently reminding students passing under the encouraging signage of all that they can be.
In Richmond County, Ratliff discovered a Time Out Room, complete with punching bag for students to release aggression pent up throughout the school day.
Explaining the punching bag to Ratliff, Richmond educators clarified, “When a child gets upset in traditional settings, what you would do is send that child home on suspension. Because this is the last stop, you cannot come to an alternative school and act up. Our goal is to graduate these students.”
According to Richmond’s theory, students can go to the Time Out Room and decompress before returning to the classroom. Providing students with a decompression option allows for them to be present in the classroom for instruction, instead of, for example, home folding laundry or learning virtually, while suspended from school.
“I can tell you, we miss a lot of instructional days due to out of school suspensions. If you miss one day of instruction you get behind. If you miss ten days of school you are returning to school way behind.”
Ratliff went on to comment, “Students that graduate from an alternative school can graduate with 22 credits, while at a traditional school it is 28.”
In the proposal that the Anson County School District is sending to the state, two critical pathways are addressed, discipline and academic learning.
Should the alternative school application be approved by the state, Dr. Ratliff shares that, “We are looking at grades nine through twelve for credit recovery students and elementary grade students will only go based on referrals for discipline.”
According to Ratliff, younger students will attend the alternative school based on referral because parents of small children suspended for extended periods face childcare hardship. Once a referral is issued, a hearing will be called for the student to be attended by their parents, teacher, and relevant faculty members.
“We have had instances where children have been angry, are suspended, and when they finish that suspension, come back still angry. That is not a safe environment for everyone concerned… it is safer not to have that student back,” advised Ratliff.
At the Montgomery and Richmond alternative school or program, students are sat down on day one and asked about who they want to be and goals the student would like to set for themselves. A personal lesson plan is then devised from each student’s individual goals that is revisited throughout the school year to determine the student’s progress.
Touching on financial concerns, Superintendent McLean announced, “We are going to fund this program very similar to how we fund our programs now. If we get one hundred students, the state will pay for a principal. We do not anticipate having one hundred students so the coordinator for the program will need to be funded locally.”