WAUPUN — Several local school districts are developing an alternative school to help students who are at risk of not graduating with their peers.

The 21st Century Skills and Careers Academy will provide students an opportunity to earn their high school diploma through flexible instruction tailored to meet individual student needs.

Patrice Vossekuil, program coordinator, presented the proposal to the Waupun Area School Board at the May 4 work session meeting. She explained that the school would consist of students from Green Lake, Markesan, Oakfield, Rosendale-Brandon and Waupun schools. Each school has identified a need to address the needs of at-risk students who do not qualify for special education or aren't identified as having a learning disability.

"We looked into the DPI alternative education grant," Vossekuil said. "There were only 10 coming out of the state and we got a little scared, but we didn't give up. Instead, we created the first non-grant funded alternative school in Wisconsin."

The Markesan School District will be the fiscal agent, putting the paraprofessional on its payroll. Cooperative Educational Servicing Agency 6 will pay the full-time certified instructor from the Fox Valley Alternative School. He will cost about $38,000.

The alternative school will be in the Amity School building. It is a central location to all of the schools and students won't have to drive more than 20 minutes to get there. CESA 6 is already renting the building from WASD. The alternative school will pay rent for the portion of the building it uses.

A student's tuition is $6,200 a year, which will be paid by the district. Six spots are allocated to each school.

"They're budgeting six people per district," district administrator Randy Refsland said. "If we don't use all six slots, we're only being charged for the slots that we have. Patrice will try to sell those slots to other districts to keep the costs down. We're not obligated to send six students."

The operating budget will be $186,000, allocated to salary and fringes of the instructor and paraprofessional, program coordinator stipend, rental of site, materials, furniture, technology and textbooks. Participating school districts may contribute equipment as available.

"Students enrolled in the academy maintain enrollment in their home high school along with opportunities such as enrollment in classes at the home high school and extracurricular participation," Vossekuil said. "All students enrolled will work toward a traditional high school diploma granted by the home high school."

Two sessions will be available for students Monday through Friday: the first 7:35 to 10:35 a.m. and the second from 10:55 a.m. to 1:55 p.m. Fifteen students will attend each session to allow for individualized instruction.

Students will attend one three-hour session and will work independently on assigned course work. They are required to maintain employment or volunteer in approved experiences as a condition of enrollment. They may also attend college-level or home school courses in lieu of work or volunteer experiences. They earn a half credit for 180 hours worked and a full credit for 360 hours worked within a semester. They may earn up to six credits each semester.

The curriculum was developed by the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction to reflect Wisconsin state model academic standards and to meet individual education needs of students.

Instruction is provided in a variety of formats—computer assisted, self-study packets, conventional textbooks—to accommodate multiple student learning styles.

"This is a great opportunity," Refsland said. "We had an alternative school at one point that we housed internally. It was subject to the budget cuts a year ago. This is a low cost way of doing the same thing in helping out kids. It makes a tremendous amount of sense. This is a pay-as-you-go model."

dharris@capitalnewspapers.com