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Career Academy reports 55 enrolled high-school scholars; attendance cited as key challenge
Summary
District officials briefed the board on the Career Academy's mission, enrollment and student supports, reporting 55 high-school scholars currently enrolled and attendance as the primary improvement focus.
District staff updated the board on the Career Academy program, describing enrollment, staffing, student supports and areas the program will target for improvement.
The presentation, given by the academy's assistant director, framed the program as an alternative pathway for students whose needs were not met in a traditional high-school setting. Staff reported the following operational and outcome details:
- Enrollment and outcomes: The program currently has 55 high-school scholars enrolled. Staff said they supported about 30 high-school students earlier in the year across three sites and have graduated 46 seniors early to date. Six seniors remain actively enrolled at the time of the report; staff said at least five of those were likely to graduate. - Student supports and staffing: The district said the Career Academy is fully staffed with core-curriculum teachers (English, math, science, social studies) and has a dedicated credit-recovery teacher for general education and one for special-needs alternative placement. Leticia Henderson was named as the site counselor who provides weekly group counseling and individual supports for scholars. - Attendance and discipline: Staff identified attendance as the program's main improvement goal and noted suspensions and nicotine vaping are persistent challenges in the high-school population served by the academy. - Instructional practice: The program uses modified PLC (professional learning community) meetings focused on tier-2 interventions; staff said PLCs meet every two weeks but that high-priority students are discussed as needed outside the regular cycle. Staff explained the program slowed weekly PLCs to a two-week rhythm because urgent cases prompted ad hoc conversations as necessary.
Board members asked for clarification on graduation-rate comparisons with prior years and whether the PLC cadence was adequate for the student population. The assistant director said final comparative data would be available after end-of-year reporting and that the program had reduced PLC frequency because staff held ad hoc meetings for students who needed immediate attention.
No formal board action was required; the presentation was informational. Staff said they will supply final end-of-year data to the board once audited figures are available.
