SCHOOL PHILOSOPHY

Our school is based on a “small community” school philosophy. Our philosophy includes the belief that each student, even if they have not been successful in a traditional school setting, will make significant progress with us. This progress will be lead by one caring individual who helps them in academic, as well as, non-academic areas of their lives. This caring individual is called a Learning Manager and is the center of the model on which we base our educational program. Learning Managers use what is referred to as an IGP (Individual Graduation Plan) to help students gain credits, create Basic Skills Testing (BST) score goals, create short term and long term goals and to think about their future. Our small school philosophy is shown in our student-to-teacher ratio of twenty students per Learning Manager. We believe that small numbers allow each Learning Manager to build a long-lasting relationship with their students. We also believe that each student must begin to make progress from where they begin and that progress will be self-paced for each individual. Some of our former students have seen their graduation dates pass where others graduate early. We work with each student on an individual basis, starting from where they came from and take them to where they want to go.

Our school philosophy is embedded in day-to-day interactions with students, parents, staff, and the community; as well as being evident in all working documents for our school. Our philosophy is reflected by the governing body of our school board in all financial decisions. In general all decisions are made to reflect how best to prepare students for the future. We are lead by the belief that each student should be working at their own pace to realize their full potential. Our philosophy is re-examined and analyzed each year. We scrutinize our philosophy to determine whether any revisions need to be made.