Petoskey school board approves in-district alternative education program

PETOSKEY — Public Schools of Petoskey students hoping to regain some credit may not have to leave the district following the school board’s recent approval of the Polaris program.

During their meeting on Thursday, the board unanimously approved the reintroduction of a credit recovery program based in the high school. The decision was met with applause from the audience.

Right now, students that need credit recovery options switch to Crooked Tree High School, which is run by the Charlevoix-Emmet Intermediate School District. Under Petoskey Polaris, which will be run on a pilot basis, the district will be allowed to hold onto students, give them the “Petoskey P” on their diploma and allow the district to maintain state funding that they receive per pupil.

The project will be evaluated after a year, and is set to start in the 2024-25 school year.

During the Nov. 16 board meeting, Petoskey High School Principal Deidra Gamble and assistant principal Rob Harris gave a presentation on the program and the benefits that could come from allowing students to stay in the district, ranging from transportation accessibility to the opportunity to keep in contact with friends.

In the last three years, an average of 13.3 students leave Petoskey for Crooked Tree, Gamble said during the Nov. 16 presentation. While they don’t know that all students are leaving, they feel having an in-house credit recovery and alternative education program would likely help keep students in the district.

Teachers and staff members were surveyed to see if they had any interest in working for two hours of their day to help lead the classroom.

They also identified current freshmen and sophomores who may be a good fit for the model, students who may not find as much success in a traditional class setting and could find more luck in online learning or outside of a traditional classroom. A total of 62 students were identified, though they have a goal of eventually having around 30 or so students actually join the program.

The plan for the program is to only open it to current freshmen and sophomores to start with. Harris said a document was developed to explain the program, and students and parents will be able to apply to participate in the program.

“There will be bumps in the road, but we’ll get it figured out,” Superintendent Jeff Leslie said about the program.

Because Polaris is technically a pilot program, Harris said the district will be monitoring outcomes — seeing if students are able to earn back credits, improve attendance and problem-solving skills, and more.

“I think all of us are definitely in favor of this, and we're calling it a pilot project to see how it's all going to come together,” said school board president Mark Ashley during the Thursday meeting.

The program will only be open to students and families that are really interested in being “all-in” on the program, and full conversations will be had with the students and families to make sure everyone is aware of what the program will entail.

Harris said there will be a sit-down conversation with current student support specialist Jamie Whitley, who will be running the program, himself, the student and their parents where they “sit down and go through the whole program handbook and get everybody on the same page so we're really clear about what this program is, the expectations and that everybody's on board and we're transparent, so we can best set that student up for success.”

Additionally, school officials said keeping students at Petoskey could allow students to stay active in sports or extracurriculars.

With the alternative education option, students will have more flexibility in their education, with the opportunity to set individualized timelines to work on classes while having the support from an adviser to ensure students are staying on top of things effectively and meeting curriculum needs.

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“The curriculum will be vetted by our departments,” Harris said. "So (they'll have) all of the same graduation requirements that other students will hit, it will just be in that alternative setting and framework.”

Whitley will be running the program with Harris’ oversight. An aide will be helping with the program as well. The board’s approval came following support from the District Teaching and Learning initiative.

A big component of the program is keeping students connected, Harris said, keeping them in the school so they can still take advantage of and participate in the district’s career and technical education programs, electives, clubs, athletics and more.

Harris told the News-Review he is “grateful and proud to work in a district that supports all students and gives us the resources that we need to do what's best for our kids. I mean, that's what it's all about at the end of the day."

— Contact reporter Karly Graham at kgraham@petoskeynews.com. Follow her on Twitter at @KarlyGrahamJRN.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Petoskey school board approves pilot alternative education program