Morgan County faculties to supply choices for different schooling
MORGAN COUNTY – Education and the ways to get it have changed tremendously over the years, and school districts across Morgan County are working to make education accessible to all.
The Monroe-Gregg School District features the Monrovia School of Integrated Technology, which offers a variety of programs including alternative education, night school for adults graduating from high school, and more.
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“Our alternative school is what we call a school within a school,” said Leslie Gillie, director of Monrovia’s alternative education program. “We work under the umbrella of Monrovia High School.”
The program offers both a morning and afternoon session for more flexibility and has been around for around 14 years.
“We currently have 21 students in the alternative school itself,” Gillie noted. “You can only have 15[students]per session, you max out at a ratio of 15 to 1. The state gives you those guidelines.”
The program is aimed at children who intend to withdraw from school, students who need different teaching methods, or students who are unable to attend school regularly due to family or professional circumstances.
“Employment, that’s definitely one that we’re seeing, especially because of the pandemic,” Gillie added. “Students who need to be employed to support their families.”
The program also offers adult night school two nights a week for three hours, where adults can complete their high school diploma. About 10 people are currently using the program.
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“Our program has grown a lot,” Gillie remarked. “We’re offering credit recovery courses for high school students who have failed the courses… we’re also supporting our eLearning for kids who are having to work from home due to the pandemic.”
Courses for special needs students are available through the MIT Alternative School through the Opportunity program.
“We use the same online program for these students, and our special education teachers work with them,” Gillie said.
Gillie added that there are also programs for students not typically offered in high school through their Aspire program, such as courses in marine biology or robotics.
“We fill in gaps in all kinds of ways, everywhere,” Gillie said. “We’re really thankful and thankful that we can do that.”
Application for the program is available through the Monrovia High School Counseling Department or see the MIT Alternative School tab of the M-GSD website for more information.
Martinsville Schools
Martinsville MSD also has an alternative education program, the Hammons Artesian Center for Excellence (Hammons ACE), where they highlight learning opportunities for students who are unable to attend school regularly due to jobs, family situations, or other obstacles.
The program is open to students in grades 9-12.
“The alternative program is designed for students who for some reason don’t thrive in high school,” said program coordinator Melody Bentley. “Some of them have babies, some have to work to support their families, for some kids just being in high school is stressful.”
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“We continue to maximize educational opportunities for students,” said Assistant Superintendent Suzie Lipps. “It’s not a traditional school day, we’re not only accommodating their class schedule, but also their schedule that they can attend.”
Lipps added that there are also night school opportunities for students, and Artesians Online was launched this year to also offer online alternative education opportunities.
“We continue to push for more opportunities for interactive teaching,” Lipps said. “We have a fluid line and a fluid progression of path decisions.”
Mooresville Schools
Mooresville High School will host an adult education boot camp from February 28th to March 3rd. The boot camp, courtesy of Mooresville Consolidated School Corp’s Adult Education Program, will help adults earn their high school diploma in as little as four nights.
The boot camp program is conducted by Wayne Township Adult Education. A native of Mooresville, Amy Richmund, the former high school equivalency supervisor and one of the people who helped write the boot camp program, saw a growing need.
“I said, ‘There’s so much need in Morgan County, we definitely have to get out of there,'” Richmund said. “There were so many students, especially in this area, who for some reason didn’t graduate from high school but are still capable.”
Richmund said the goal is to get “intensive teachers” to work with students bootcamp-style, focus on a specific aspect of the HSE exam, and then take the test that same evening.
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“These are these four nightly boot camps. They’re going to focus on one topic each night, work on it really hard, and then turn around and test it that same night,” Richmund noted. “It has such a high success rate.”
Pre-registration is available via adulted.info/bootcamp, then select the Mooresville location. The pre-registration period ends on February 22nd.
Contact Reporter Times reporter Grace Phillips at gphillips@reporter-times.com or at 765-346-4815
