School for at-risk teens beats academic odds

CALDWELL (AP) - Tony Richard, principal of Canyon Springs High School, had "alternative" excised from the school's name in 2006, after his first year at the helm.

"I think of it as a high school of choice," said Richard, who believes the catch-all "alternative" carries too much baggage in the public mind.

Student Body President Georgina Baiz agrees. When people find out where she goes to school, their first question often is, "What did you do?"

"I say, 'Nothing. It's just a high school,"' she said.

It's a high school that drew statewide attention by meeting federal academic progress standards two years in a row. And it's a high school with plans to triple in size next year with a host of new features, including a laptop for every student.

One of more than 60 Idaho public schools classed as "alternative" by the State Department of Education, Caldwell's Canyon Springs serves teens designated at-risk for academic, behavioral or other reasons.

Once they're enrolled, they can stay, even as their risk factors fade.

"This is not a place where you see people who are dangerous or troubled," Richard said. "It's a place for people who need a smaller environment so they don't get lost."

Two years ago, as a freshman at Caldwell High, Aristeo Zamarripa completed only two credits, ended up in truancy court for skipping too much school and racked up 92 disciplinary referrals in one semester, he said.

"Then I came here, and it's the best that I've ever done," he said. "I'm caught up now."

Now a junior at Canyon Springs, Zamarripa is on track to graduate in 2011.

"I'm excited," he said. "Before, I never thought I'd graduate. It's easier for me to learn here - less distractions from a whole bunch of kids goofing off."

The school's schedule also makes it easier to focus, he said, with fewer, longer classes. Rather than taking six courses per 18-week semester, Canyon Springs students earn their credits in nine-week quarters with three or four classes per quarter. Each class period is nearly two hours long, divided into varied segments to keep students engaged, Richard said.

Class sizes are capped at 15 students, so each teen gets plenty of time with teachers. That interaction is on a first-name basis, with two exceptions:

"I still go by Mr. Richard, and we have a science teacher who goes by Mr. Vines," the principal said. "We tell 'em, 'When you graduate, I'm Tony and he's John."'

The school's vision, stated on its Web site, is: "Laying a foundation for growth one student at a time, in which students learn to think, learn to work, and learn to live."

"I hold about an hour interview with every parent that brings their child to this school," Richard said, and the incoming student is carefully assessed for academic and other needs. The staff comes together as a team to set up a sort of scaffold of intervention, creating a "support system both during and after school, before they start to fail."

William Parrett, director of the Center for School Improvement and Policy Studies at Boise State University, calls Canyon Springs "a great school - a model for alternative high schools."

State schools superintendent Tom Luna singled out Canyon Springs in his budget presentation to legislators last month, touting the school's repeated success in making Adequate Yearly Progress.

Student success is reflected in numerous measures, from last year's whopping 96 percent graduation rate (Caldwell High's was 80 percent) to the speed with which once-struggling students rack up credits.