Gateway Academy successful in providing North Lawrence students with specialized education
BEDFORD — One thing proven thus far by North Lawrence Community Schools' Gateway Academy is that a successful education looks different for each student.
The school seeks to provide high school students with a more specialized education, focusing on what works best for them.
Not every student learns the same way and while some things, such as credit requirements, are imposed by the state of Indiana and cannot be changed, Gateway is able to control many other aspects of their day.
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For example, some students may only spend the front half of their day at the school, taking online courses, with the help of an instructor. Depending on the student, they may return to BNL later in the day for other courses, or perhaps they’ll go to the career center, where they can learn skills to prepare them for a future career.
Whatever the case be, the goal remains to provide students with the best education possible for them.
Offering an alternative
The idea for NLCS to explore alternative education models came from principal Kelly Storms, who previously worked within NLCS as a principal at Bedford North Lawrence High School and Bedford Middle School.
Storms’ vision for Gateway, in part, came from her time at BNL, where she saw the impact that the North Lawrence Career Center and its non-traditional education style was having on students.
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“I worked with a lot with kids that just, you know, wanted to do well, but they just didn't find themselves able to function effectively and have a great deal of academic success in the traditional setting. And, in observing that, and getting to know many of the kids that I did at the time, the career center, then the Vocational Center, was just a real important part of their day,” she said.
“I could tell that, you know, their demeanor was different. When they were in that setting, their confidence level was different. When they were in that setting. Things were just working,” she added.
In addition to focusing on the academic success of students, Storms said getting students involved in their local communities was another one of the school’s founding principles.
“We needed an academic focus. We needed community involvement. We needed the kids to be out in the community doing things, learning about community, job shadowing, learning about future goals, or what was in store for them, what the community they live in is made up of, what they can contribute to the community. So, we needed that community piece. And we needed physical fitness. And so, when I started, it was those three things,” Storms said.
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Although the COVID-19 pandemic has slowed the amount of community activities students have been able to do, the school continues to work with local organizations.
Recently, the Lawrence County Community Foundation provided a grant that will allow students to take part in multiple college campus visits this year. Additionally, Gateway Academy has partnered with United Way to offer a mentoring program for their female students.
Prior to the pandemic, Storms said the school was excelling in helping students recover previously lost credits, in addition to its many other missions.
"We were killing high school credits. I mean, they were catching up on credit so quickly, and then the pandemic hit. And it did not put a halt to the program. I was fearful that it might, but it didn't put a halt to the program, but but it has slowed us down a bit," Storms said," she said.
With fewer students receiving suspensions and expulsions this year according to Storms, the school has been able to renew its focus on credit recovery.
Our greatest focus has been on credit recovery. Because, you know, we don't have all that many students now being suspended or expelled, because, well, they're just lots of reasons. You know, we've been out of school a lot, we're not with others that irritate us and we haven't had a lot of time to manifest behaviors that have led us to those kind of decisions. So, we've really focused on kids that have just fallen behind in credits," Storms explained.
That focus has paid off.
According to Gateway Academy's 2021-22 First Semester Report, 45 high school credits were recovered at the school from Aug. 2021 through Jan. 2022.
Additionally, Gateway has provided an education for eight students who would have been expelled and 10 who would have faced suspensions otherwise during that time.
Though Storms cannot say exactly what the future for Gateway Academy looks like, she expects pre-pandemic momentum to return and a continued level of success.
"I would love to be able to be myself five years into the future and kind of see, you know, like past some of hopefully past some of this pandemic. Yeah, well, I see that momentum return," she said.
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"I think that North Lawrence and school board, I think I could speak for the board and the community leaders that I've worked so closely with in saying, Gateway is needed. Gateway has been successful, Gateway will continue to be successful and we don't want to see Gateway go away. I think that's the response you would get, if you asked parents who've had kids that have gone through the program," Storms added.
Noah Dalton is a reporter in Bedford, IN. He can be reached at ndalton@tmnews.com
This article originally appeared on The Times-Mail: North Lawrence students gifted special education by Gateway Academy
