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Bedford High highlights restored CTE programs and Excel Academy supports
Summary
Bedford High School leaders reported returning CTE programs and described Excel Academy’s small-school model focusing on mental-health supports, behavioral interventions and self‑paced academics; presenters credited those efforts with improved discipline data and incremental graduation gains.
Bedford High School administrators told the Bedford City School District board they are seeing early signs of programmatic success after restoring career and technical education (CTE) offerings and expanding supports at the Excel Academy, the district’s alternative-setting school.
Crystal Dillard (assistant principal), Reggie Walker (assistant principal) and Claire Gowling (assistant principal) described progress toward district goals, highlighting a near-target graduation rate (96.8% for the Class of 2024 goal of 97%) and a roughly 9.3 percentage-point increase in reading over the three-year cycle discussed in the presentation. The high school reported an 80% reduction in fights compared with 2021–22, which leaders attributed to small-group interventions, student mediations, expectation assemblies and stronger communication with parents.
Andrew Gowling, principal of the Excel Academy, outlined the school’s three-part approach: social-emotional health, behavioral supports and academics. He said Excel has a full‑time guidance counselor, access to mental‑health therapists, a daily reset room for students who need brief time away from class, and a self‑paced learning platform that lets some students complete coursework more quickly. Gowling reported Excel students completed 192 classes last year, totaling 149 credits, and seven Excel students graduated at last year’s ceremony — small totals that school leaders said represent meaningful individual progress.
CTE offerings were a recurring focus: staff described student work in culinary arts, sports medicine, engineering, audio-visual production, cosmetology, auto service and cyber security, and said partnerships with outside providers (including a named cybersecurity partner, TrustedSec) are restoring workplace-aligned opportunities previously hosted off-site. Administrators described short films, spine‑boarding training, foosball engineering projects and cosmetology demonstrations among recent student activities.
Board members pressed for additional data tying discipline categories (out-of-school suspension and in-school restriction) and attendance to academic outcomes; leaders agreed to provide the requested data points and a dashboard view by email.
The board applauded the high-school team and encouraged continuing the strategies supporting student achievement.
