Winamac Community High School’s new alternative learning program is one step closer to getting full approval from the State Department of Education.
DOE alternative education specialist Julia Johns visited Winamac’s Warrior Academy Tuesday. Teacher Karen Butler, who oversees the Warrior Academy, says Johns reviewed various documents and also got the chance to observe the program, “Mrs. Johns was very positive about the program. I took no negative away from the meeting at all . . . she was very, very helpful and very excited about the program.”
Butler says the state looks at how students are admitted into the program and how the school gauges their progress. The level of support for the program from the school administration as well as from the community is also taken into consideration.
Butler also says approval from the state would make the Warrior Academy eligible for alternative education grant funding, “Right now it is funded completely through our school, and with this site visit, if the program is accepted, we may be accepted for the grant, which we would receive from the state, just like other alternative schools in our area.”
The Warrior Academy lets students work at their own pace to complete their coursework. Right now, it’s being used for credit recovery, but in the future it may be expanded to allow students to take classes that don’t fit into their regular schedule or ones that the school doesn’t currently offer.
Butler says the school hopes to hear back from the Department of Education within a few weeks.
