ALLPS Center Prepares Students for Life After High School

Center helps keep students in school

Halen Auxier, an 18-year-old senior at Fayetteville High School, left, gets a hand from guitar instructor Andrew Milburn on Dec. 13 at the ALLPS Center in Fayetteville.
Halen Auxier, an 18-year-old senior at Fayetteville High School, left, gets a hand from guitar instructor Andrew Milburn on Dec. 13 at the ALLPS Center in Fayetteville.

— Ellie Spoering probably wouldn’t be in school today were it not for an alternative education program in the Fayetteville School District. The same could be said for Natalie Sequichie or Samantra Knight.

At A Glance

What They Say

ALLPS students last year were asked to answer a questionnaire to aid in the preparation of a presentation by Jon Gheen, ALLPS director, at the National Alternative Education Conference. Here are some of their comments:

-“I love being part of the ALLPS community because I come to school everyday knowing that all my teachers are there for me whenever I need anything.”

-“It’s not just a school, it’s a place that I can be myself and not worry about what other people think or say.”

-“ALLPS is a school of opportunity.”

-“My teachers help me stay focused on my goal to graduate and stay on task in class.”

-“ALLPS to me is saying, ‘There is another chance. Please take it. We want to help you succeed.’”

Santos Sosa isn’t sure when asked the same question.

The students attend the Agee-Lierly Life Preparation and Services Center, a long moniker for a program whose mission is simply “helping kids stay in school.”

Referred to as ALLPS and housed in what used to be West Campus Technical School, students are being educated in what they say is a more nurturing, loving environment than a traditional high school.

It’s just the kind of place they need to stay connected to high school and to graduate.

“This is the first time I’ve enjoyed going to school,” said Spoering, 18.

Knight, 18, agreed, saying, “It’s easier to come to school.”

Sequichie, 17, divides her school day, starting at Northwest Technical Institute in the morning preparing for a career in the health professions, and ALLPS in the afternoon.

“I have to do something for myself and my brother,” she said.

Sosa has been at the ALLPS center his entire high school career, starting in his sophomore year to make up credits he didn’t get as a ninth-grader because of repeated absences. In his junior year, he was back and forth between ALLPS and the main campus of Fayetteville High School.

As a senior, he attends East Campus for band, German III and Art II but takes the rest of his courses at ALLPS.

He gives a lot of credit for his success to Jon Gheen, the center director. He describes Gheen as a sort of father figure who believes all students have the potential to change the world.

“Everyone respects Mr. Gheen,” Spoering said.

Gheen became the director of ALLPS two years ago, overseeing the high school within a high school of 110 to 120 students.

“The majority are over 18 and are here because they want to be,” Gheen said.

More than 60 percent could or do qualify for free and reduced-price meals. There are also a high number of students who are homeless or are “couch surfers,” Gheen said.

They are bound by a common denominator.

The Beginning

Uptown School was started in 1972 by retired teacher Martha Agee and the late Carmen Lierly. They are the namesakes for the ALLPS center. Uptown was the first alternative school in the state and aimed to educate teenagers who had dropped out of school or were in danger of dropping out.

Source: Staff Report

“They have not met with success in the traditional classroom,” Gheen said.

They are across the spectrum in their education experience. Some, like Sosa, may show up enrolled in German III, or they may show up at age 17 with no course credits to their name.

“Our kids are mostly at the margins and have all the issues that go with that,” Gheen said. “The only medical care they may receive is from the school nurse.”

Jeter Morse, the lead teacher for the ALLPS small learning community, added, “We see every trauma you can imagine and some you can’t.”

Academics are the same at ALLPS as at Fayetteville High School. Teachers follow the same frameworks in the core subjects. The students take the same assessments to record their achievement levels.

Morse, for example, teaches Algebra II and statistics but doesn’t give his students homework.

“Homework is suppose to be for fluency,” Morse said, which may not be as important if a student is working 20 hours a week to support himself or if there are problems at home or they have a child to rear.

A high percentage of students have full-time jobs or work at night, often closing a business at midnight and then getting up and coming to school early the next morning. An estimated 15 percent to 20 percent are single parents.

Attendance is the number one issue, Morse said.

“Yet, this is a safe place, and they know it,” he said.

Many have made poor choices by themselves or at the hands of their parents.

Home may not be a happy place for them, Gheen said, adding, “Once they are here they are part of a family. We are trying to produce productive citizens.”

There are parenting classes for some, and students interested in music can participate in an ad hoc guitar program at lunch.

“The needs are as diverse as the kids,” Gheen said.

There is even juggling in Joel Henderson’s drama classes.

“Juggling is used in the classroom for learning style assessment and development, self-esteem building, as a learned skill with potential for self-employment and other activities that link the activity to the core curricula,” Henderson said.

He has taught juggling in the alternative classroom since 1995.

“I like the idea of teaching a skill that can be learned by a person of any age or gender and continued throughout one’s life,” Henderson said.

Henderson was part of Uptown School, the original alternative school in Fayetteville before it became ALLPS several years ago. Uptown School today forms the heart of ALLPS, helping students with their academic needs through guided-study programs that help them recover academic credits.

Another teacher, Luke Adams, identifies with the ALLPS students because he may have been a candidate for the program. Adams grew up poor in south Arkansas and experienced school and family issues similar to those his students have today.

His teaching philosophy is setting expectations high and telling his students, “You will rise to meet this because I won’t lower the expectations.”

It seems to work. Several students cited him as a favorite teacher.

He teaches world history, economics, sociology and psychology.

“They have learned to skate through and do the bare minimum,” Adams said. “They like the challenge. Every kid has a different challenge.”

He knows some students don’t have electricity at home and therefore no access to a computer outside of school. His biggest concern is whether his students have enough food to eat.

Adams, like Gheen, Morse and other teachers, wants to see students succeed.

“We need to make it so students can be a success,” he said.

Morse said his reward is to see the struggles of students turned into successes with perseverance.

“We celebrate successes,” he said.

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