The Knox Community School Corporation may launch its own alternative high school this fall. On Tuesday, the school board agreed to let administrators continue working on plans for a “Redskin Academy.”
High School Principal Dr. Elizabeth Ratliff told board members it would provide a fresh start for students who’ve struggled in a traditional learning environment. “What we have recommended and been planning is looking at an alternative school that would be basically separate from the high school,” she explained. “That is important. The kids that are angry at the high school, that are frustrated with that environment, it’s important that they have new people to talk to, a new environment, a new space to go to, to be able to look at their educational goals.”
The Redskin Academy would begin with 15 students, under the supervision of a teacher and aide. Superintendent Dr. William Reichhart said the initial focus will be grades nine through 12, with the possibility of expanding it down to seventh grade.
The goal is to incorporate an individualized electronic learning system, such as Apex, with Knox High School’s existing vocational programs. “Students may be in the program for half a day, and then the other half, they might go to a SCILL program or vocational program, or they might just go work, and we could be flexible with that,” Reichhart explained. “We also know that we have a lot of mothers at the high school who have had children, and it becomes, sometimes, a difficult thing for these young mothers to be able to still graduate and take care of their children. So we can try to accommodate those needs of those students that we have.”
The Redskin Academy would replace the school corporation’s existing agreement with The Crossing. The faith-based alternative school closed its Knox campus last year. Ratliff said that two Knox students are currently attending The Crossing’s Plymouth campus.
Reichhart said an in-house alternative school should be financially feasible. “I think between grants and between bringing kids back that we currently are having home-schooled or that we lose during the year, we’ll capture those ADM monies back, and it will pay for itself and may even generate some additional revenue for us.”
School administrators still have to finalize the Redskin Academy’s exact curriculum and location, but Reichhart said it will likely be in the Elementary School building near the school corporation’s administrative offices.
