College Issues: What’s Liberty Academy? | Training
“Alternative schools” are available to students throughout Texas and the United States. These can take the form of charter schools, magnet schools, risk programs, special needs day schools, independent private schools, and even boarding schools. What exactly is an alternative school and how does it help the students?
An alternative school is defined as an educational establishment that caters to the educational, behavioral and / or medical needs of children and adolescents that cannot be adequately addressed in a traditional school setting. The most common alternative school building programs are Credit Recovery and a Disciplinary Alternative Education Program (DAEP).
Victoria ISD hosts both programs on the Liberty Academy campus.
Credit recovery programs are aimed at students who are struggling in their traditional educational setting and who are lagging behind in their graduation performance. VISD’s Liberty Academy Credit Recovery program is specifically focused on providing third, fourth, and fifth year students with a second chance. Liberty Academy offers students a different path and environment for them to achieve their goals. Each student enrolled has a different curriculum tailored to their needs. This may depend on the number of credits required and the exams required to pass at the end of the course.
DAEPs serve as an alternative educational facility for students who are removed from their usual campus or classroom setting for disciplinary reasons. Since the passage of the Texas Safe Schools Act in 1995, all public schools in Texas have been required to offer this type of program.
Students attending Liberty typically have study gaps, behavioral issues, and attendance issues. Often this is not the fault of the students, but simply a cause of the environment in which they are found. As the district has already mentioned several times, for us there are no fewer, but other ways to a successful start. Liberty teachers and staff work to provide a empowering environment for students to enhance their attendance, study, and teaching in order to graduate and achieve their goals.
After a difficult 2020-21 school year for students across the country due to COVID-19, the 2021-22 school year began with its own challenges. Just a few weeks before the planned return of the students to campus, Building A of the Stroman Middle School was convicted of unsafe environmental conditions. This resulted in Stroman students being relocated to the Liberty campus. With what appeared to be a domino effect, the Liberty Academy students had to go to the Dr. Robert Jaklich Conference Center move.
Many across the district were unsure whether it would work and provide students with the necessary environment for success. Before students (and staff) could settle into the conference center, however, an unexpected opportunity arose.
Victoria College (VC), an already superior partner of VISD, reached out to Liberty Academy students to help with credit recovery.
In September, VISD and VC teamed up to offer a college prep program to students at Liberty Academy Credit Recovery. Through an application format, second, middle, and senior students applied to take credit recovery courses on the VC campus and have access to industry-based certifications.
The inaugural year of Liberty Academy at Victoria College began on October 18 with full enrollment in six classroom sections of 20 students each.
But that’s not all.
In addition to providing classrooms on campus, VC provides additional support including access to free tutoring for credit recovery courses and assistance throughout the college application process and the FAFSA application process. The college has also provided counseling support to help students achieve their goals and determine which degrees or certification options at VC are most attractive to them.
This unwavering support has led to the recent achievement by Liberty Academy students in loan recovery. By December 16, approximately 99% of Liberty Academy students at Victoria College have completed their applications and been accepted for college at VC.
Now students who once only wanted to catch up on credits and final exams will take their first college hour in the spring semester. This opportunity gives students access to a seamless transition into VC as full-time students once they graduate from high school.
This partnership is just another chapter in the VC and VISD saga helping students excel. The future looks bright for VISD, VC and Liberty Academy and we can’t wait to see what else develops.
Jake Salcines is the Executive Director of Secondary Education and Talent Development for the Victoria Independent School District.
