Alternative school or not?

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-1999
Alternative school or not?
14
Wed, 06-06-2007 - 9:24pm

I'm not involved in any sort of decision making on this one, but I'm wondering what you all think....


DD's b/f T is probably ADHD and dyslexic, though he's never been formally diagnosed.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 09-29-2004
Thu, 06-07-2007 - 10:24am

Without understanding exactly what alternative schools are where you are, it's hard to say. Here there are schools where kids who are having trouble at the normal high schools attend. They are given exact help in small classes but they are not exempt from getting the credits they need for their high school graduation. They have homework. We don't believe in reducing the requirements for normal, average-intelligent students but in helping the kids to meet those requirements.

Sorry, I would be concerned about this young man's basis education. If he has ADHD, he needs to be diagnosed and the proper steps taken to help him. An alternative school with smaller class sizes will help but working on his own will not. He will still have to focus.

His reading would concern me. If his reading is as poor as you say, WHY HASN"T THERE BEEN INTERVENTION BEFORE HAND? Instead of "stepping everything down", they need to find ways to help this young man with basic literacy. He needs to be accessed for LDs yesterday.
Computer repair is a good field to pursue but he will need to able to keep on top of it. It's a fast evolving field. As for programming, he will definitely need a good level of
math and literacy to go anywhere in programming. If not,he will only be a coder,at best.
There is writing & reading involved, a great deal. You have to read & understand the SW requirements, WRITE the code, document your code (in the code) & write the description...
His literacy and the "holes" in his basic education need to be addressed,for his sake and for his future.

If the alternate school will do that,great. If not, I would be weary of it.
As for him backsliding into his old ways, he is old enough now to take responsibility for his life. He could,just as easily, backslide in his school now. If his resolve to "fly right" is so weak that sending him to an alternative school will cause him to backslide, it hasn't "stuck".

Sorry to say this but this talk about bad kids at alternative schools reminds me of a comment a mom said to me several years ago... Her daughter had failed every course in Grade 9. The girl was bright but was skipping classes, involved in drugs & alcohol & acting up as teens sometimes do. I liked the girl,always did. She had been a friend of my daughter's. The mother was complaining that she didn't want her daughter to attend a remedial program offered in the summer for kids who had failed high school courses. She didn't want her daughter to associate with THOSE kids. Humm, what kids does she mean?
Could she mean kids who have been skipping classes, involved in drugs & alcohol & acting up? Or was it the kids who had problems with math (but had tried) or the kids who had LDs and needed more support or the kids who had missed too much school because of sickness or moving arround or the kids that just messed up (which is human)?

It is never too late to get help if you have an LD.

Avatar for heartsandroses2002
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 06-07-2007 - 10:48am

The alternative HS's here in the US have the same basic, and often higher, requirements that a regular local HS has to graduate. The difference can mean anything from simple extra help or help in a concentrated area or giving the students the opportunity to focus on a more 'creative' field of study while also pursuing their regular HS diploma; it could mean smaller classes or as in my dd's case, adding Adventure Ed instead of your usual physical education classes. Most often, alternative schools offer creative outlets for kids who don't quite 'fit in' with a basic, rote curriculum and need something more.

Most alternative schools are not a catch-all for troubled kids, however, I'm sure there are some out there. When I first spent a couple of hours at my dd's charter school, I was a little taken aback at some of the key differences with her local HS. For instance, in my the charter school the kids call the teachers (all 6 of them) by their first names. And when there is a school outing, everyone goes. And the teachers rotate their schedules so that it doesn't get boring for anyone, so with the exception of world language, a science teacher or math teacher may also teach art class, and vice versa. For thier adventure ed classes, all the teacher participate in rowing, caving, rock climbing and canoeing - all of which serve as team building activities. In addition, they earn their community service credits by working together and doing community service projects locally. Because they are smaller, they can do these types of things and it's really wonderful to see otherwise outcast kids form very close and trusting relationships with thier peers as well as their educators. This year's class dedicated their yearbook to the principal/director who battled cancer all year. The kids did a fund raiser for the susan G. koman fund by sponsoring a Passionately Pink Day where everyone, even the boys donned pink clothing and the principal wore a pink wig! They are like a family and sometimes, that closeness is all a teen needs to succeed, especially if they aren't getting that in their home school. I have to look past all the black clothing, piercings and tattoos so I can see the wonderful human beings that my dd goes to school with and calls her buds. I've learned so much through this program and so has dd.

iVillage Member
Registered: 08-17-2005
Thu, 06-07-2007 - 1:00pm
It probably depends on the area - here in my neck of the woods, the alternative school IS for the trouble makers, or reformed troubled makers.

iVillage Member
Registered: 10-16-1999
Thu, 06-07-2007 - 1:29pm

Did a little checking this morning with two of my coworkers who are married to teachers at our hs.

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