Alternative learning

School wasn’t working. Ashley LaCelle tried Coeur d’Alene High first, then Lake City High. She was uncomfortable, unhappy, unmotivated. A counselor suggested she try Project CDA—Creating Dropout Alternatives. LaCelle wasn’t interested in the alternative school. She wasn’t pregnant and didn’t take drugs, so she decided she didn’t belong there, even though the school caters to all sorts of students who can’t handle a traditional school setting.

LaCelle planned to earn a GED — general education document — eventually. Then, she heard about the Bridge Academy.

“If it wasn’t for this, I don’t think I would’ve gone back,” she says now, as she works on an English assignment in the Bridge Academy’s computer room. She plans to complete all her requirements for graduation in one more year. “If it wasn’t for this school, I would be nowhere in life,” she says, her blond ponytail flying as she spins around to greet a friend.

The Bridge Academy opened last fall as a last chance at graduation for students who had dropped out of school or were about to. Harry Amend, the Coeur d’Alene School District’s superintendent, made it his goal to reduce the district’s dropout rate—about 250 kids a year.

He had started a Bridge Academy in a Kalispell, Mont., storefront a few years earlier. Twenty-five students attended the school three hours a day four days a week. They worked independently on computers, completing whatever classes they needed at their own pace. Two teachers stood by to offer help. Students also did 13 hours of schoolwork each week outside the academy.

A school district committee Amend formed in Coeur d’Alene liked the idea and suggested he apply for the state money available to launch such a program. Stephanie Bennett was on that committee, and she was excited.

Bennett had 15 years of teaching, counseling and managing behind her, including five years at Project CDA. Alternative schools made sense to her. She liked their flexibility and environments. She understood that not everyone functioned well in a classroom at a desk with 30 other people around them.

As a vice principal at Project CDA, Bennett was painfully aware how full the alternative school was. It was the only option available to students who couldn’t survive in traditional classrooms, but dozens of those students were languishing on a waiting list. Bennett knew too many on that list dropped out.

She was visualizing options other than Project CDA when Amend introduced her to the Bridge Academy. Bennett visited the Kalispell school and was delighted.

“I thought it was perfect,” she says. “I could definitely do something with this idea and make it successful.”

Bennett was hired as the administrator for Coeur d’Alene’s Bridge Academy. It was her job to figure out the game plan—who could attend, how many, how the school would operate. The district bought and remodeled a building at 13th Street and Best Avenue that a dog-grooming business had occupied.

It also bought 24 new Dell computers. The Coeur d’Alene Rotary Club gave the academy $20,000 for 10 more computers. Bridge was going to offer three, three-hour sessions four days a week with 25 students in each. Bennett needed to find 75 students willing to try the newest alternative school.

Her resources at Project CDA helped her reach some dropouts and potential dropouts. They spread the word to others. Fifty students applied the first month. By the end of last summer, the Bridge Academy had 90 applicants. Boys outnumbered girls 2-to-1 to start.

Bennett accepted juniors and seniors first, then a few sophomores. Students had anywhere from one class to a few dozen to complete, so she expected constant turnover in the academy’s population. Bennett has kept the school full; enrollment reached 100 students at one point. But her waiting list continues to grow.

She interviews every student she accepts. She looks for motivation and what they like and don’t like about school. Students tell her they quit school because they didn’t fit in, hated school, needed to work, weren’t good in math or English. Some were overwhelmed with the work they had to make up after a long illness. Others had to work to help their families.

Students set goals with Bennett. Some plan to complete a class every month. Bennett shows them how to load the programs they need onto computers, then leaves it up to the kids how fast to proceed.

She assigns students to one of the three sessions and helps them figure out physical education and electives outside of school. She grants credit for work in some cases. The kids are allowed no more than nine absences, like all students in the district. But Bennett allows students to make up absences on Fridays. They also can attend school Fridays anytime they want to get ahead in their work.

Two teachers and a teaching assistant roam the computer classroom ready to help students with anything they need.

“We’re not just teaching. We’re like coaches,” says Jill McDaniel. “We get to do a little of everything.”

Laura Rasinski, 17, was attending Rocky Mountain Academy in Bonners Ferry when she heard about the Bridge Academy. She was on track to graduate in 2005, but Rasinki wanted to finish school sooner. With her parents’ approval, Rasinski entered the Bridge Academy last fall and will graduate June 5. She’s finished course after course and passed tests in them. Academy students need at least 80 percent correct on each final test or they have to try again.

“I like that I can go at my own pace and I can go back and redo things if I’m not satisfied. I’m a perfectionist,” Rasinski says. “This is the best thing I’ve ever done. I really enjoy school now.”

She plans to continue her education at Chapman University in California. Devin Beebe plans to continue his education at Wyoming Technical School. He had dropped out of Coeur d’Alene High in his senior year after he got sick and fell behind.

He wasn’t sure how or if he’d finish school when Bennett called him. He liked what she told him about the Bridge Academy.

“I like that you could work at your own pace,” he says. “I could do my work and get out.”

Devin will sing Paul Simon’s “Kodachrome” at Bridge’s graduation ceremony June 5.

Students complete their graduation requirements at various times throughout the year. Bennett celebrates each one. She sticks candles in Hostess Ding Dongs and has the graduating students make wishes. She reads Dr. Suess’ “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” then calls their parents in front of the kids to tell them the good news. The impromptu ceremonies are Bennett’s favorite moments.

She has asked only two students to leave the academy. Troublemakers are few. Students flock to Bridge because it is a last chance. Bennett talks with troublemakers to help them decide how much they want to stay at the school. Only two decided it wasn’t for them.

A box of black mortarboards sits in Bennett’s office now. She smiles every time her eyes fall on it. She’s hoping for 40 graduates, maybe more, depending on who’s motivated enough to finish that last little bit of work by June. Graduation will draw hundreds, she says. Family pride in dropouts who return and finish school is huge.

“This job is kind of a dream for me. I always wanted to start something a little different,” she says. “I’m an administrator, but a mother, teacher and nurse here. That’s the kind of leader I want to be. I don’t know where this school is heading, but I think it could be huge.”