Last semester, Bellevue West administration reached out to a trial group of freshmen who were on the edge of failing a class for the semester.
“We want to ensure that students are given opportunities to make up an assignment they may have missed or didn’t get it done,” dean Robert Klug said.
Academic Saturday school is a recent project taking place from 8 a.m. to noon on the last Saturday of each month for students to get the academic help they need. This is an optional opportunity for all high school students that don’t have a study hall or couldn’t complete a summative test.
“We would much rather have a student earn a credit, and do this summative test or this project than have them sit through summer school or repeat the class next year,” Klug said.
If a student doesn’t complete a summative test or project, teachers work with them before or after school to get the assignment done. If that doesn’t work, their respective teacher reaches out to the student’s study hall teacher to get the assignment done. If they don’t have a study hall, the last intervention is an academic Saturday school opportunity.
“We know during this time of year, a lot of kids are gone because of illness or sports or maybe some kids just were having some tough times, and we want to ensure that they’re given the opportunities to improve their grade and to complete the assignments,” Klug said.
Each academic Saturday school is run the same. Students show up to a class with any assigned work that hasn’t been completed and work with the teachers proctoring the room. Depending on the number of students that attend the academic side, both academic and behavioral Saturday school students will be in the same room unless there is a large group of academic students.
“We’ll work individually with those families that we typically work with, and help them kind of work their way through this process,” Klug said.
From the administration side of this new implementation, Klug feels that they have not been meeting the area of focus when it comes to academic success but that the new Saturday school is an opportunity for everyone to grow.
“I think as educators, we’re always trying to better our craft, and we want to give our staff another opportunity to help our students, and we see this as a valuable asset,” Klug said.
Administration has gotten feedback from students and their families to assess how the next few academic Saturday schools will be run. As this is a new opportunity for the school, it is unclear if it will continue in the future, but teachers and staff members are making the steps necessary to give all students a chance to improve their academic success.
“I think anytime you can provide another opportunity for a family and a student to be successful, I think is a win, not only for us as a school, but as a community as well,” Klug said.
