Horizon alternative school leaders highlight social‑emotional gains, internships and community outreach

Horizon alternative school leaders told the Uinta County School District No. 1 Board of Trustees on Monday that the school is meeting state accountability measures while prioritizing social‑emotional supports, internships and community outreach for its roughly 47–60 enrolled students.

School leader Brandon Payne said Horizon enrolls about 47 students at present and sometimes approaches 60, and that the program fills “a niche need” for students who struggle in a traditional setting. Payne said Horizon’s two guiding beliefs are building strong, caring relationships and preparing students for life after graduation.

Denise Chi, who presented the school’s social‑emotional program, said every Friday students receive targeted social‑emotional intervention and staff meet Mondays to identify and make weekly plans for three focus students. “We really focus on what is holding each individual student back,” Chi said, describing group and individual work and weekly check‑ins to adjust interventions.

Candy DuCoite, the school’s college and career readiness and CTE teacher, described a push to place every senior into at least a 40‑hour external internship. She listed local partners including City Drug, Clark Elementary, a hospital and Rocky Mountain Care and said several interns have received offers to continue working after completing the initial hours. DuCoite said internships teach soft skills such as punctuality and workplace behavior and noted that if the internship is part of classwork students are covered by the district’s insurance.

Casey Gersoll outlined a new community outreach program that uses eight “octant” days each year for students to perform service projects across the city — examples included painting a park basketball court, shoveling sidewalks for schools, helping at the senior center, and painting racetrack bleachers. Gersoll said the project amplifies students’ sense of belonging and estimated the program has produced roughly 600 hours of community service this year.

On academics, staff described a rotation of data‑driven intervention blocks — 45‑minute sessions five days a week — that alternate weeks between math and English. The school’s quantitative goal is a minimum 5% academic growth in reading and math relative to the previous year’s baseline STAR assessments. Sam Johnson, a social studies teacher, said the school’s move to 90‑minute class periods in an “A/B” monthly octant schedule has allowed more one‑on‑one time and project scaffolding.

Payne presented mid‑year parent survey tracking showing that about 80% of parents reported “significant” social‑emotional growth in their child since the start of the school year; Payne said the figure was approximately 81% when he last checked. Board members asked for clarifications on enrollment volatility and student turnover; teachers said the school is transient, with roughly eight to a dozen students turning over in a year and about 65–70% of students who start as freshmen persisting through Horizon.

Board members thanked staff and encouraged continued community partnerships. No formal board action was taken on the Horizon presentation; it was delivered as part of the board’s school‑and‑department reports.

Horizon staff invited board members to visit the school and to upcoming events, including a winter carnival.