Springdale To Expand Alternative Program

SPRINGDALE — More high school students will attend Springdale’s alternative learning program this fall.

School district officials decided to hire an additional teacher, which allows the program to serve 15 additional students.

Any increase puts more students back on track to graduating high school, said Tim Weiss, alternative program director. There are 100 students on the waiting list.

“Our primary focus is to stop kids from dropping out,” he said.

The program will be able to take 210 students.

The alternative learningcenter at 500 E. Meadow Ave. houses 165 students, and the rest attend classes at Springdale High School. The enrollment at the high school classes will increase from 30 to 45 because of the new teacher.

The alternative program maintains a 15-to-1 studentto-teacher ratio, compared to 30-to-1 in a regular high school class.

The lower ratio requires hiring more teachers, but the state provides the district with an additional $4,000 for every alternative student, Don Love, assistant superintendent, said. The money helps pay the teachers’ salaries.

Ashley Beyard, a 2010 graduate from the center, said the smaller classes allow formore one-on-one time with the instructor. She was glad to hear about plans to offer another class.

The biggest challenge to expanding the program is finding classroom space, Love said.

Two seniors, Jikko Heon and Dylan Sandoval, said they got behind on credits to graduate because of bad attendance. The program’s schedule allowed them to catch up faster than they would have in a regular high school.

Alternative students take four classes a day and earn a semester’s credit in nine weeks, Weiss said.

Heon and Sandoval are part of a group of alternative students working this summer for Youth Strategies, a local nonprofi t organization.