KHS Learning Center Adapts to Student Needs

JoJo Nichting - 12

10/12/2018

With the backing of many advocates in the school administration, the Kirksville school district opened the doors of the learning center this year. Jesse Wolf, KHS assistant principal, played a key role in making this dream happen, even choosing the furniture for the classroom.

Wolf said in an email, “A goal of the learning center is to help the students develop ownership in the program to help them in their future plans. The program is career-focused, so we are trying to bring in agencies to help the students with employment and all the facets of being an employee.”

For many years, Randy Mikel and members of the school board have been pushing for an alternative school for at-risk students. The idea was implemented over 20 years ago, but was unsuccessful because the class helped students through high school but left them feeling lost after graduation. It was shut down two years later.

When asked what he wants the community to understand about the learning center, Wolf said, “It is not for troubled kids. Everyone needs to understand that this is a different setting, style, and avenue for students to complete high school. It is also important to understand that it is not an easier way out of completing high school. High school is very tough for all students and to address a certain section of our students, we needed something different. We needed something that could be an accelerated way for students to get their education.”

Along with standing up for the class, Wolf visits the Board of Education almost every week to report how the center is doing. Wolf has made a lot of progress, but he isn’t done yet. He commented, “The future plans for the learning center are to make it a much more versatile program through different planning and procedures. A goal we have since established is to make sure our ‘completers’ are employed, enlisted, or enrolled. To make that more of a possibility, we are going to have to increase the future-focused avenues within the building in an attempt to expose our students to the possibilities they can take advantage of as graduates.”

Located on campus in the old woodshop classroom in William Matthew Middle School, this class currently has 17 students enrolled and is taught by Terri Klepzig and Kaitlyn McNeely. The classroom has been updated to include features such as new desktops, plush chairs, bistro tables, and a couch to allow the students to feel more comfortable and motivated.

Terri Klepzig had previous experience as a special education teacher for grades 5-8. She has traveled all the way from San Jose, California to teach. In an interview, learning center teacher Klepzig explained how different this classroom really is from any other class in KHS. She described the block class, saying, “We do not offer an average class period. No two days are the same. This is an Internet-based educational system. The students are in different subjects working on completing credits or recovering past credits.” She followed by saying, “The students have the freedom to choose which course they would like to work on that day or work on more than one. It is a flexible program.”

Klepzig believes that many of the students and their past behavior were caused by anxiety; such behavior would include not coming to school, not doing homework, or difficulty focusing in class.

Klepzig remarked that, despite the short amount of time she has been there, she has already seen great improvement, not only in the students’ grades, but in their behavior as well.

She gave the credit for this improvement to the breaks the students are allowed to take on their own time. “They do not have to ask permission for these breaks. This makes the students feel more comfortable as well,” said Klepzig.

Wolf had seen improvement as well, commenting, “Of course there have been changes, and mostly dealing with the logistics of the program. Being a new program, we have had to modify our thinking multiple times to address students the best way possible... We have to remain fluid enough to adapt to student needs but also to protect the productivity of the program.”

The students also have personal jobs to keep the class clean and take a lot of pride in how well they do their jobs. Overall, this class gives these students exactly what they need-- the freedom to work at the pace necessary for them to learn. Klepzig added,“They can see the light at the end of the tunnel and know they can achieve this goal. The students also appear to be more confident in their abilities to perform in their classes.”