Plymouth’s Alternative High School program is reporting a successful 2015-2016 school year. Retiring alternative school teacher Suzie Clevenger told the school board last week the program served a total of 57 students during this past school year.
She says one of the changes impacting the program last year was the switch from from a trimester to a semester system. “Switching to semesters, the numbers were down, but the course completions were the same, if not higher because those students were able to stay longer in Alternative School and finish more courses,” she says. “So my enrollment – it was down, number-wise, but not the course completions that students were able to achieve. It was right what we’d predicted.”
Of the 57 students, 35 seniors were able to graduate this spring, and Clevenger says three more are very close. “Those three students need about two chapters for their last high school credit to receive their diploma,” she says. “So I am hoping that by October 1 they make it, and no, my job is not done until they do. So I’m sure they’ve all call-blocked me by now because I’m sending constant reminders. I pull up to Kentucky Fried Chicken and yell through the window at one of them, and I’ve done it all.”
Plymouth School Board President Todd Samuelson praised Clevenger’s leadership of the program. “What you’ve done at that alternative school is nothing short of spectacular and miraculous,” he said. “And the benefactors are in our community and out doing things that they probably would not have been able to do without you, and what greater thanks than to have that. So bless you for all that you’ve done for us.”
Clevenger thanked everyone at the corporation for their hard work in supporting the program.
Following Clevenger’s retirement, Katie Duran will take as Alternative School teacher this fall.
