EDITORIAL – PATRIOT ACADEMY, JEFFERSON COUNTY’S HIGH SCHOOL TWILIGHT ZONE

A high school teacher’s perspective on a failed experiment, and suggestions for solving the school building dilemma.

A few years ago, a couple of school board members called to ask me about a “new concept” they were considering for Freshman students at Jefferson County High School. What about designing a special program, they said, for ninth graders to ease the transition from middle school life to the challenges of high school, something to give the students a smooth transition and improve their odds of academic success. Being a strong proponent of the successful LINK Program, brilliantly designed, in part, by Art Teacher Annette Loy decades ago to help with high school transition, I was all for the new ninth grade program.

Never in my wildest dreams did I believe the Freshman program would end up in a separate building one mile removed from the main campus! But it did. Even though Patriot Academy has an excellent teaching and administrative staff that are dedicated to student success, the location of the building and its isolation of students are among the problems explored in this editorial.

THE ISOLATION FACTOR

The decision to house the ninth-grade students in a stand-alone building was not a smart one. Patriot Academy agglomerates eighth grade graduates to a central hub from each middle school, a building where students are sheltered from the valuable experience of interacting with upperclassmen. Freshmen students languish in this isolated environment for one academic year before they become tenth graders at the main campus. As several students have told me, “We essentially get to be eighth graders twice, and freshmen twice,” thus my analogy of the high school twilight zone.

DAMAGE TO VOCATIONAL ENROLLMENT

As a vocational teacher, I knew that career, trade, agriculture, and industry classes would suffer enrollment losses without access to ninth grade students. My entire teaching career was spent training students to work as electricians, HVAC technicians, sheet metal workers and plumbers in the CTE Department on the main campus. My program enrollment (and that of many others) depended on ninth-grade enrollment in exploratory feeder courses. That pipeline was severed; and several years went by before the problem was even partially corrected. This critical mistake continues to threaten the existence of certain program areas at the main campus. The school board failed to consider the consequences of the decision to isolate the ninth grade. A correction is long overdue.

COLLEGE PREP STARTS ONE YEAR LATE

Students in college-bound academic pathways are also at a strong disadvantage. They lose one academic year of preparation. Students need to be emersed in the guidance resources of the main campus and certain courses that would help them make good career and college decisions. Starting their secondary experience one year late is not good in the competitive world of college admissions.

DUMPLIN VALLEY LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE

A small number of ninth grade students are permitted to enroll in select programs at the high school main campus, JROTC, Band, and a limited number of CTE courses among those. This is a logistics nightmare. Taxpayers bear the expense of bussing students to and from the main campus each day for classes, pep rallies, school assemblies, and other school functions.

USING FACILITIES EFFICIENTLY TO CONTROL DEBT

It is time to reunite the four grade levels of Jefferson County High School. Doing so would yield a set of benefits for the students, taxpayers, and the school system itself. Moving the ninth grade to the main campus would vacate a shiny new school suitable for at least 1000 students, a building that would be a prime location for a long overdue magnet middle school that could feature STEM classes, CTE, additional exploratory courses, and advanced courses for college bound students. It would also eliminate the need for building a new elementary school in Jefferson City if the current Jefferson Middle is repurposed for elementary students, a move that would save the taxpayers from accruing twenty-plus million dollars of new debt and save the Jefferson County Fairgrounds from destruction.

DEBT, THE MAIN OBSTACLE TO EDUCATION FUNDING

Getting Jefferson County’s debt under control is the pathway to providing better facilities for education, and more resources for students and teachers. This year alone, taxpayers will shell out nearly eight million dollars ($7,858,573) in debt payments, three million of that in interest. Retiring the debt would save the county enough to build a new school every 3 years. We must address this issue.

Vital Policy

David Seal is a retired Jefferson County educator, recognized artist, local businessman, and current Chairman of the Jefferson County Republican Party. He has also served Jefferson County as a County Commissioner and is a lobbyist for the people on issues such as eminent domain, property rights, education, and broadband accessibility on the state level.

Source: A high school teacher’s perspective on a failed experiment, and suggestions for solving the school building dilemma.