SAND SPRINGS — Page Academy is an alternative high school within Sand Springs Public Schools, serving grades 9–12 and offering accelerated courses for students who have fallen behind in credits.
It provides smaller class sizes, flexible schedules, and a supportive environment with resources for academic, social, and emotional needs.
Principal Jay Rotert recently updated the Sand Springs Board of Education about the high school’s achievements and goals.
“My first year was last year, and we had a successful year. We had 40 out of our 42 eligible students to graduate meet the requirements to graduate, which meant graduation was the largest that Page Academy had ever had,” he said. “We had two of those students that also completed tech programs. One has gone back to Tulsa Tech (Tulsa Technology Center) to complete the child development program. And she completed a nursing or medical assistant program last spring, and now she's doing child development. And then our other student that completed the law enforcement program is now working at David L. Moss for the sheriff's office. And he graduated early. He graduated in February and then graduated from Tech in May.”
Rotert told the BOE that Page Academy has continued its partnership with the Early Childhood Education Center (ECEC), which is where Jana Purcell (Student Success Director) takes a group of students over to the ECEC on Fridays for a couple of hours.
“And the students go in and serve as teacher's aides for that time. And they help with whatever projects they have going on, get to really enjoy the kids,” he said. “Had a couple of them that came back, decided they maybe want to go into continued from page 1
education, or come back and be paraprofessionals for the district as soon as they graduate. So, it's just giving them some great experience that otherwise they would not have.”
Rotert said half of those 40 graduates earned post-secondary points for graduation on their report card, which was a change from the year before.
“The year before, we had less than five. And then this year we should have almost 100% of them, of the graduates that earn post-secondary points. Post-secondary points come from internships, career tech participation, or TCC participation,” he said.
Rotert added of those 40 graduates, Page Academy had 20 that completed the college and career readiness diploma, instead of the core diploma.
“Which meant they met all the requirements so that when they apply for college, they have everything they need to go in and be successful. Last year, our graduating class had no college and career readiness diplomas. They had core diplomas,” he said.
Rotert told the BOE he meets with every student and their family when they enroll for school at Page Academy.
“Now every family that enrolls to come to Page Academy, I meet with them personally. It's not a digital application. They have an online application to show that they're interested. I get an application from the student, from the parent, and the counselor,” he said. “And then we arrange an inperson meeting where we sit down and we go through a series of intake questions and we get a lot of information about kids, go through their credits. They know when they leave, it's going to take you this long. We always give them everything they need so they know, and they can come up with a plan.”
Rotert said a change this year is moving from trimesters to quarters.
“So, by moving to quarters, we align with Charles Page High School at the end of our second quarter,” he said. “So, that way we're not six weeks into our second trimester, and then kids are trying to come in and get caught up, or we're not finishing a trimester, and the kids are coming in in November, and they only have six weeks. So, by going to quarters, we're better aligned with the high school. So, if we have a senior that's going to be short of credits, we can get them in, get them caught up, and get them out on time. If they don't make it on time, they're more likely they're never going to make it. So, we want to do everything we can.”
Rotert said a focus of Page Academy is dropout prevention.
“Alternative education is the only program in the State of Oklahoma with that focus,” he said. “So, we have alternative course credit options that we can do. We can allow kids to test out of courses. We allow kids to, if we need to, we can do proficiency packets. We can do various things to get them credits. We also have a virtual curriculum so they can do credit recovery. Anything that we need to do, we can pretty much find a way to do it to get them to graduate on time.”
Rotert said part of that focus on dropout prevention is their going back through all of the previous years to find any student that is currently listed as a dropout.
“If they're within three credits of graduation, I'm going to call them and try to get them back, and we're going to try to get them to graduate by the end of the first nine weeks, if possible,” he said. “So, we're going to really go back and maybe change some kids' pathway just because now they're going to have that high school diploma.”
Rotert said all of their graduates this year should complete the college and career readiness diploma.
“The courses that usually trip them up a little bit, computer applications two and algebra two. If we can get them through algebra two, we pretty much get them through anything,” he said.
Rotert said Page Academy has a partnership with Family and Children's Services.
“We have a youth care coordinator in our building. And part of what that youth care coordinator can do is work with them on those things,” he said. “She can work with them pretty much on anything, helping them get their driver's license, food handlers permit, applications. So, if we need that extra support, we have it.”
Rotert said Friday at Page Academy is known as “alt ed” Fridays.
“So, every Friday, our focus is on all the things that's not regular education. We're talking about personal financial literacy, alternative art, life skills,” he said. “We're going to have somebody come in and teach the kids how to change tires, change the batteries on their cars. Do the little things so that it doesn't cost them down the road to pay somebody else to do something they could do themselves. That increased focus on life skills and personal financial literacy is just a way to make sure that our kids are prepared for everything that comes after Page Academy.”
Superintendent Sherry Durkee told the school board she is proud of the achievements of Page Academy.
“(It) makes us extremely proud. And graduating that many kiddos that could have been at risk for graduation at all is a great statement about that facility. So Jay, thank you,” Durkee said.