Alternative Ed Center closing: Private company will run program for Walker school system
Posted on May 23, 2008
The Walker school system’s Alternative Education Center is slated to close at the end of this school year.
According to Chris Chambers, coordinator of student services for the system, the school will be replaced by a private company contracted to provide services for students who need an alternative path outside of a traditional educational setting.
“We have a company that is going to be coming in that’s called Ombudsman,” Chambers said. “In a nutshell it is a company that has been around for some time and there are several different systems across the state of Georgia that actually work with Ombudsman and they’ll actually be heading up the alternative center. We will actually have two locations – one location at the north end of the county and one in the south.”
Chambers said of the reasons behind the decision to bring in the private company, “Lots of different reasons as to why they were brought in. We didn’t see the kind of results we wanted to see. The graduation rate and the success rate of the students that went through our program was not where it needed to be. So we have known for some time we were going to have to make some changes to reevaluate what we were doing and the way we were doing it in order to try and make it more successful.”
Chambers said the company had a renowned record of success.
“Their data speaks for itself,” Chambers said. “That’s how they (Ombudsman) make their money. If they don’t have kids being successful, the schools aren’t going to use them as their program. We are looking at a very, very low student-teacher ratio. They are fully accredited.”
Asked how the system would pay the company, Chamber said, “We will pay them for a certain number of slots. Then, when we have our slots we can’t go over the slots. We’ll have certain numbers we can assign to the program. Instead of us hiring a teacher to go in and over to Osburn Road (location of the current alternative school), we are hiring a teacher through this program.”
Chambers said that contracting out services is nothing new for the system.
“It’s not really new for us to contract out. We contract out speak therapists and occupational therapists and different kinds of people. So it is not a new concept. We’ve used consultants for some time. So that, in and of itself, is not new, but for us to use it through our alternative center program is new and different,” Chambers said.
Chamber said another of the benefits would be its ability to serve the needs of more students.
“We will have a few more slots available than what we have had in our system in the last couple of years. We’ll be better able to serve, not only the students who make poor choices in the regular education setting, but we’ll also have some slots for students who just aren’t being successful – not necessarily just behavior issues, but just not doing well within the general curriculum in a typical school day,” Chambers said.
Chambers described the setting into which students needing alternative attention would be placed.
“They actually operate out of storefronts,” said Chambers. “It’s actually an opportunity for the kids to do something in a different way. They have the same kinds of waivers of specifics that you would see in other alternative centers. For example with middle school kids, they won’t be there for a typical day. They will be there for a four-hour session. So, for that four hours they are going to have a very concentrated effort with the teachers. So, for the kids that don’t do well with the seven-hour day, four hours is going to hopefully be successful. It’s going to be in a storefront, not in a typical school environment where they are being bombarded with different kinds of stimuli and different things that could cause potential misbehavior or potential distractions.”
Chambers also spoke of hopes for the future of the alternative program.
“It’s real exciting for us and long-term plans. I’d love to see us have evening classes so that students would have that as an alternative as well,” Chambers said.
Chambers talked about the excitement around the new program.
“We are really excited about it because the research we have done on the company really speaks highly of it. We’ve gone down and done some visits with other systems that use the company. We are really looking forward to some good results,” Chambers said.
The actual locations of the two sites were not available during this interview with Chambers but he said he would share those as they became available.
What is Ombudsman?
According to the company’s website:
The Ombudsman team has been helping students stay in school since 1975. After serving in education for more than 30 years as a teacher, dean and administrator, James Boyle founded Ombudsman Educational Services with Lori Sweeney. Boyle believed whole-heartedly in the worth of each individual student and sought ways to keep students engaged in the learning process. He and Mrs. Sweeney jointly directed the company until Boyle’s death in 2001. At that time, Mrs. Sweeney became the CEO and chairman of the company and has continued to promote and strengthen the philosophy of the company.
Today, Ombudsman operates more than 82 accredited programs throughout the United States.
Today, Ombudsman operates 82 accredited programs throughout the United States. It partners with school districts throughout the United States who refer students to the program and Ombudsman accepts private students. Ombudsman also operates charter schools in Arizona for parents and students who are interested in an individualized approach to learning.
Technology is key
Step into any one of Ombudsman’s classes and you’ll see how technology keeps students engaged and focused. Each student is seated at a computer, working at their own pace, while several teachers interact with individual students. In addition to the computers, there are many supplementary learning activities designed to stimulate and excite students.
Why technology?
The use of computers and a wide variety of software allow teachers to individualize a learning plan for each student at the appropriate skill level.
The technology provides immediate feedback to the student for a right or wrong answer. There is no waiting for a teacher to “grade” a paper and return it.
There is no embarrassment associated with a wrong answer and students can progress at their own rate so they can master the content.
Finally, the use of technology frees the teacher from delivering the information so they have the time to interact with each student to help, guide and motivate them to successful learning.
According to Chris Chambers, coordinator of student services for the system, the school will be replaced by a private company contracted to provide services for students who need an alternative path outside of a traditional educational setting.
“We have a company that is going to be coming in that’s called Ombudsman,” Chambers said. “In a nutshell it is a company that has been around for some time and there are several different systems across the state of Georgia that actually work with Ombudsman and they’ll actually be heading up the alternative center. We will actually have two locations – one location at the north end of the county and one in the south.”
Chambers said of the reasons behind the decision to bring in the private company, “Lots of different reasons as to why they were brought in. We didn’t see the kind of results we wanted to see. The graduation rate and the success rate of the students that went through our program was not where it needed to be. So we have known for some time we were going to have to make some changes to reevaluate what we were doing and the way we were doing it in order to try and make it more successful.”
Chambers said the company had a renowned record of success.
“Their data speaks for itself,” Chambers said. “That’s how they (Ombudsman) make their money. If they don’t have kids being successful, the schools aren’t going to use them as their program. We are looking at a very, very low student-teacher ratio. They are fully accredited.”
Asked how the system would pay the company, Chamber said, “We will pay them for a certain number of slots. Then, when we have our slots we can’t go over the slots. We’ll have certain numbers we can assign to the program. Instead of us hiring a teacher to go in and over to Osburn Road (location of the current alternative school), we are hiring a teacher through this program.”
Chambers said that contracting out services is nothing new for the system.
“It’s not really new for us to contract out. We contract out speak therapists and occupational therapists and different kinds of people. So it is not a new concept. We’ve used consultants for some time. So that, in and of itself, is not new, but for us to use it through our alternative center program is new and different,” Chambers said.
Chamber said another of the benefits would be its ability to serve the needs of more students.
“We will have a few more slots available than what we have had in our system in the last couple of years. We’ll be better able to serve, not only the students who make poor choices in the regular education setting, but we’ll also have some slots for students who just aren’t being successful – not necessarily just behavior issues, but just not doing well within the general curriculum in a typical school day,” Chambers said.
Chambers described the setting into which students needing alternative attention would be placed.
“They actually operate out of storefronts,” said Chambers. “It’s actually an opportunity for the kids to do something in a different way. They have the same kinds of waivers of specifics that you would see in other alternative centers. For example with middle school kids, they won’t be there for a typical day. They will be there for a four-hour session. So, for that four hours they are going to have a very concentrated effort with the teachers. So, for the kids that don’t do well with the seven-hour day, four hours is going to hopefully be successful. It’s going to be in a storefront, not in a typical school environment where they are being bombarded with different kinds of stimuli and different things that could cause potential misbehavior or potential distractions.”
Chambers also spoke of hopes for the future of the alternative program.
“It’s real exciting for us and long-term plans. I’d love to see us have evening classes so that students would have that as an alternative as well,” Chambers said.
Chambers talked about the excitement around the new program.
“We are really excited about it because the research we have done on the company really speaks highly of it. We’ve gone down and done some visits with other systems that use the company. We are really looking forward to some good results,” Chambers said.
The actual locations of the two sites were not available during this interview with Chambers but he said he would share those as they became available.
What is Ombudsman?
According to the company’s website:
The Ombudsman team has been helping students stay in school since 1975. After serving in education for more than 30 years as a teacher, dean and administrator, James Boyle founded Ombudsman Educational Services with Lori Sweeney. Boyle believed whole-heartedly in the worth of each individual student and sought ways to keep students engaged in the learning process. He and Mrs. Sweeney jointly directed the company until Boyle’s death in 2001. At that time, Mrs. Sweeney became the CEO and chairman of the company and has continued to promote and strengthen the philosophy of the company.
Today, Ombudsman operates more than 82 accredited programs throughout the United States.
Today, Ombudsman operates 82 accredited programs throughout the United States. It partners with school districts throughout the United States who refer students to the program and Ombudsman accepts private students. Ombudsman also operates charter schools in Arizona for parents and students who are interested in an individualized approach to learning.
Technology is key
Step into any one of Ombudsman’s classes and you’ll see how technology keeps students engaged and focused. Each student is seated at a computer, working at their own pace, while several teachers interact with individual students. In addition to the computers, there are many supplementary learning activities designed to stimulate and excite students.
Why technology?
The use of computers and a wide variety of software allow teachers to individualize a learning plan for each student at the appropriate skill level.
The technology provides immediate feedback to the student for a right or wrong answer. There is no waiting for a teacher to “grade” a paper and return it.
There is no embarrassment associated with a wrong answer and students can progress at their own rate so they can master the content.
Finally, the use of technology frees the teacher from delivering the information so they have the time to interact with each student to help, guide and motivate them to successful learning.