Classrooms

Central Davie Academy will offer an intervention program for students with repeated disruptive behaviors that need more time at an alternative placement than a short term suspension will allow.  Students will enter this program in one of three ways:

1. Fifteen day assessment
2. Forty-five day intervention
3. Administrative placement

Students that move into the Davie County School District that were in an alternative school program just prior to their move, will be expected to complete a fifteen day assessment period at Central Davie Academy.  This will allow the faculty to assess the student’s readiness to transition into a traditional school environment or continue to serve the student’s academic and behavioral needs until readiness to transition is determined.  Second, middle school and high school students will be referred to the forty-five day intervention program for repeated disruptive behavior at their home school.  A district referral committee will assess the appropriateness of the student referral and review the interventions tried and the student’s discipline profile.  

High School Staff: Kristen McGown, Angie Bowles, and JJ. Rice

Middle School Staff: Sharon Deal, Shelli Degli-Angeli, and Casey Dillow

If deemed appropriate, a student intake meeting will be scheduled as soon as placement availability allows.  Students and parents will be expected to review and sign a contract of commitment to the intervention program that outlines the policies and expectations.  All students in the intervention program will complete a personalized education plan with the counselor that identifies their academic and behavioral goals during alternative school placement.  Students will be expected to show academic, behavioral, and attendance growth during their intervention in order to transition back to their home school.  Prior to transitioning, students will be asked to identify a staff member at their home school to be their school mentor and a mentor referral letter will be sent to that person.  High school transitions will consider grading periods and semester changes to best meet the academic needs of the student.  Lastly, students that violate major school policies could be administratively placed at Central Davie Academy for up to 365 calendar days, depending on the severity of the offense.

Each intervention classroom will be equipped with sixteen student computers and access to a computerized curriculum through GradPoint, or similar software program.  Each classroom will have two full time teachers,  a shared teaching assistant and will maintain fifteen or fewer students.  The model of instruction will look different than the traditional model since students will utilize computerized curriculum programs and work in small groups on a daily basis.  Teachers will incorporate the teaching of social competencies and character education throughout the regular academic courses.  When a behavioral or emotional issue arises in the class, the teacher may break away from their lesson plan and engage the class in a small group discussion to resolve the conflict.  The smaller class sizes and higher staff to student ratio will enable students to receive individual attention on a daily basis.

 

This component gives students with severe behavioral problems a place where they can work on their behavioral issues and make progress toward attaining the academic and social skills they will need to achieve success in school.  Staff will provide direct instruction and feedback on behavioral issues.  Working along with the other components of the alternative program, the intervention classrooms will help make traditional schools safer and more conducive to student learning while providing an educational opportunity and a second chance to those students at risk of dropping out because of their behavior.

Middle school and high school students suspended for a period of two to ten days would have the option of attending the OSS program at Central Davie Academy where they would complete their school assignments and receive credit for attending school.

As an incentive for students to attend the OSS program, the principal or assistant principal could propose that a three day suspension be cut to two days, a five day suspension to three days, and a ten day suspension to six or seven days.

If space is not immediately available in the OSS program, an administrator could delay a suspension a day or two,  If appropriate, to begin the suspension when space allows.  The home school will be responsible for submitting the Student Information Page to Central Davie Academy prior to the suspension.  Students attending the OSS program will be counted present at their home school and therefore would not have to make up days to satisfy the school’s attendance policy. 

OSS Teacher: Todd Smith

Principals and teachers will have two options when assigning work to students.  They can 1) send work with the student or fax it to Central Davie Academy, or 2) e-mail Central Davie Academy the NC Standard Course of Study (SCOS) objective on which the student is presently working.  If the sending school chooses the second option, students will be placed on NovaNET (or similar software program) to complete work in the appropriate subjects.  This second option also allows the home school teacher to avoid the rush of gathering students’ assignments and work to send to Central Davie Academy.

On a student’s first day in the OSS program, a staff member will review the OSS Behavior Contract that outlines the rules, expectations, and requirements.  The student will then be asked to sign the contract in agreement to abide by its provisions.  The student will also meet with a counselor, or other trained staff member, to complete a behavioral assessment.  The student will be expected to discuss the behavior that led to their suspension and develop strategies to avoid similar behavior in the future.  During this assessment, students will be asked to choose an adult at their home school to be their school mentor.  A mentor referral letter explaining their selection and mentor responsibilities will then be sent to the adult chosen by the student.  We believe that follow-up and mentoring are important components of the overall program and help to lower the number of repeat offenders.

Program hours are expected to be from 8:30 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  The parent and / or student will arrange their own transportation to and from the Central Davie Academy OSS program.  The time students spend at the OSS program will be very structured and students can expect that their time will be spent working, with little, if any, time to move around or socialize.  Students will be permitted a supervised bathroom break once every ninety minutes.

Should a student behave inappropriately or fail to follow program guidelines, he or she could be sent home.  The student may be allowed to return to the program the following day at the discretion of the school administrator and depending on the behavior that caused the dismissal.  If a student is not allowed to return, he / she will have to serve the original out of school suspension time at home.

If a students behavior repeatedly leads to out of school suspensions, the home school may want to consider completing the referral form to the Central Davie Academy intervention program.  A district referral committee will assess completed applications to this program and base acceptance on available space, need, and interventions tried.

Implementation will result in fewer days of student absences and less pressure on after-school and Saturday school make-up programs.  Dropout rates should decrease, academic performance of at risk students should improve, and referrals to the alternative schools longer term intervention program should decline.  This is one step towards helping students with their behavior before it becomes an obstacle to their success in school.