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Emphasizing education over probation SCHOOL >> Area students at risk of dropping out to get alternative in Spotsylvania
Former Massaponax High School probation officer plans to open an alternative high school
Date published: 6/7/2008
BY MEGAN WILLIAMS
In the Bible, Jonah runs from the people of Nineveh instead of helping them as God asks him to.
This story inspired the name and mission of Jonah's Run Alternative High School, which is to open this fall in rural Spotsylvania County, for teens at risk of dropping out.
"Like the people of Nineveh these kids need help and no one will give it to them," said Sarah McKennon founder of the alternative school in Partlow.
Jonah's Run will offer an alternative for students who are having a hard time in a traditional public school setting. They will be evaluated by McKennon, who will confer with their high school counselors before letting them enroll.
"We don't want to take anyone out of the public school system unless it's in their best interest," McKennon said.
In Fredericksburg and the surrounding counties there is a kindergarten through 12th grade alternative school and an alternative program for students with medical needs that keep them from attending public school. But there is nothing specifically for high schoolers with a wide range of problems from medical to behavioral.
"Our school will be all inclusive," McKennon said. "It's going to be a therapeutic place."
Jonah's Run will be a private, certified special education school. Although the name is a biblical reference, the school will have no religious affiliation.
The idea for an alternative school began while McKennon served as a probation officer at Massaponax High School. She worked with the court-services unit but was placed in the high school and took on the caseload of the students on probation at Massaponax. She quit in June 2007 to work full time on the alternative school.
"I worked with kids who were at risk of dropping out of high school many of them did and I had to lock up many of them," McKennon said. "These are kids that don't have learning disabilities but aren't doing well in their studies they just didn't have the support they needed."
Now that McKennon has a site for the school, she is completing accreditation requirements, which is a two-year process. She also has students slated to attend, a curriculum and $4,500 for scholarships. She has chosen a principal and interviewed three teachers.
Date published: 6/7/2008
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