Graduation focus of ECHS effort
By BRENDA SOMMER bsommer@leader-news.com

To help more students graduate, El Campo High School is testing an alternative learning school in hopes of launching the program in the fall.

The program is not for trouble-makers, Principal Rich DuBroc said, but rather for those who can't or no longer fit in with the regular routine of high school.

"We're creating a school within a school (for students) who don't fit in a traditional high school setting," Superintendent Mark Pool told the school board during its last session. He said it's rarely successful "trying to fit a square peg in a round hole," and that the alternative program would give such children a different way to fulfill their graduation requirements.

Both Pool and DuBroc have worked at districts with similar programs and are doing a pilot program at Northside Education Center in an empty classroom at the DAEP facility, which is where students with disciplinary problems are educated.

So far, DuBroc said, the students who've tried the alternative program have good grades and are "enthused." He's only tried the computerized lessons on a handful of seniors who'd passed all their state-mandated TAKS tests and merely lacked a course or two to graduate.

"One kid, all he needed was English IV, and he was failing that," DuBroc told trustees. "He wanted to drop out."

But DuBroc offered the boy the alternative school, and "he should finish this week." Du- Broc said Friday that boy did finish the course this week, and so will graduate with his peers next month.

"We're able to be flexible with what we're doing," he said. "A lot of time, they're seniors, they think they're grown and start to fail. This is to get them to graduate."

The computerized courses that will be used at the alternative school are the same ones used for "credit recovery," which are the make-up classes taken by students who've failed a course.

The rate of learning is faster than traditional courses, because not only is the student more focused, but they can work on a single course for hours at a time.

"It's a shift in mindset," Du- Broc said, adding it is similar to that made when taking college courses or continuing education credits.

Although the alternative school is nontraditional, Du- Broc said "we're dealing with a nontraditional student."

There will be strict limits and guidelines in place as to who gets the option of attending alternative school, both DuBroc and Pool said. Seniors must pass all their TAKS courses, and they and other students must meet attendance and conduct benchmarks, be referred by their counselor and principal, have parental permission and sign a written contract outlining their goals.

So far, no extra staff have been needed. Should the program grow, Pool said it likely would require only one additional staffer since the courses are entirely computerized.

Board President Judy Waligura asked if a school aide could perform that function, and Du- Broc said yes.

"I don't see a downside if you stay on top" of who's taking the courses, Trustee David Hodges said. "If we save one kid, it's worth it."

No action was taken on the alternative school program, which was only on the board's agenda as a discussion item.