GAP or Merit? Goshen re-envisions alternative education

Sep. 5—GOSHEN — Changes may be coming to Merit Learning Center — specifically the name.

Now housed in the Chandler Career and Technical Education Center alongside the trades programs of the high school, the Goshen School Board heard arguments for changing the name of Merit Learning Center to The Goshen Alternative Program, or GAP.

Goshen Community Schools Coordinator for Alternative Education and Assistant Principal Josh Duell said the goal is to envision Merit as a branch of high school education.

"The alternative environment is shifting pretty intensely," Duell said. "When Merit first started, a lot of the students that were placed there were dealing with major self-regulation issues or life-changing choices that led them to a place — maybe pregnancy or the family's in need and they have to work and they've got to create a space where they can support."

Duell said it's always so much the case anymore.

"We wanted to create a name that met this connection to the high school, this connection back to the school. We wanted to create a word — because 'alternative' in itself, sometimes there's a negative connotation, but it's simply trying to find a creative process to help the student struggling in traditional learning."

Roughly 320 students attend the program, not including adults involved in the evening program. Duell said at any point there are at least 100 students in the building, and many more online.

"A lot of the students that we deal with in particular, they need so desperately the connection to a building trades program or the audiovisual thing that we're offering or the connection to the career center, so having that stuff contained in the same building, it's really a big thing," he said.

Merit Learning Center opened in 2003, serving students throughout Elkhart County.

"Not to be dramatic, but I feel like literally at times, it has saved lives," said Goshen Community Schools Director of Staff and Student Services Lori Shreiner.

ATTENDANCE AND PROFICIENCY

Goshen Community Schools Associate Superintendent Alan Metcalfe explained new attendance policies created by the state. If students individually miss more than 11 days, less than 94%, they are chronically absent. Information for 2020 was skewed due to the pandemic, and in 2021, many parents continued to use online options. In 2022, the district went back to in-person only and eliminated the RedHawk Academy entirely. Metcalfe said schools are currently contacting students who have not yet attended this year to confirm they no longer intend to be enrolled at the school, and each school is creating its own attendance policies up to expulsion.

"We all know attendance does impact instruction," he said. "If they're not here, we can't instruct them."

On that note, he announced that 26.3% of third-graders this year passed both the English Language Arts and the math portions of the IREAD.

"I don't want anyone to hear us say that we are happy with these scores or we are settling for any of these scores," Metcalfe said. "These scores are not where our teachers want our students to be, they're not where our principals want our students to be, hopefully, they're not where the parents want them to be, and so we are really making a combined effort to focus in on this. ... It's about continuous improvement, and that is our goal."

He added that not many districts in the state have an Englisher Learner population of 25% or more. Goshen's students passed at a rate of 34.4%.

"For schools that do have a population like us, we do outperform them," he acknowledged.

In math, 36.1% of students were deemed proficient.

"One of our big goals is incentives," said Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum Tracey Noe. "We have to get kids here in order for them to receive the instruction every day and to build on that learning every day."

Professional development for teachers this year, she explained will be targeting specific standards for mastery, with the state in the process of changing the standards for next year. The district has already transitioned and is using both the new and old standards this year. It will include student goal-setting.

The district did recognize students who received perfect scores on IREAD-3 during the 2022-23 school year. They include: Angel Aguilar Aguilar and Nevaeh Rugerio Castillo of Model Elementary School; Arelis Arias Velasquez, Maya Jackson, Micah Wieand, and Micah Wise of Chamberlain Elementary School; and Zoey Warner of Prairie View Elementary School.

BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL FIELDS

A public hearing was held for the new softball and baseball facility. Dubois said some things have been removed from the original proposal after discussions with the architectural firm. The complex will include a driveway, restrooms and concessions, and baseball and softball fields. Fields would begin use in spring of 2025.

The facility will be located behind Prairie View Elementary. The cost is estimated to be about $14 million although the district has not taken bids yet. Due to the current debt service and some items dropping off, the district says there will be no increase in taxes from the cost. The first public hearing was held at the Aug. 14 meeting. At both meetings, only one person, Goshen resident Glenn Null, spoke. The board passed a project resolution, one for preliminary determination, and one for reimbursement expenditures.

BUDGET

The 2024 budget adoption will be Oct. 9. The education fund will be advertised as $42,039,000; the operations fund $17,270,700; the operating referendum $6,207,000; debt service $10,999,066; referendum debt capital payments $6,359,000; rainy day $1 million, among other things with a total of roughly $83 million. Chief Financial Officer Bob Evans said it's advertised high as budgets cannot be raised, only reduced. The entire proposed budget is available for review at https://gateway.ifionline.org.

Dani Messick is the education and entertainment reporter for The Goshen News. She can be reached at dani.messick@goshennews.com or at 574-538-2065.