Class Act: County’s tech school is a monument to hands-on learning
It was a student completing the county’s “boot camp” program in 2001 who inspired the Madera County Office of Education to establish its innovative Pioneer Technical Center Charter School, a special program originally designed for some of the county’s most troubled students.
Having finished boot camp and community court school—two programs for students who’ve had serious disciplinary problems or are in trouble with the law—the student was scheduled to return to comprehensive high school. But she told county Superintendent Sally Frazier she knew she would fail.
“I’ve never succeeded in a regular school,” the student said. “Why don’t you have a vocational program for someone like me?”
Because of her past problems, this student was not eligible for the Regional Occupational Programs available to her classmates, so there was nowhere for her to get job training.
Frazier took the student’s complaint seriously. She appointed a task force of community and education leaders to examine the issue. Less than a year later, in September 2002, Pioneer opened its doors to 26 students. The school now has an enrollment of 200 students and is the only high school in Madera County to receive a coveted six-year accreditation from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Pioneer offers four career pathways for ninth- through 12th- graders: building trades, business technology, criminal justice and careers in art. The courses are approved by the ROP and aligned with state academic standards.
Pioneer’s program features small class sizes and hands-on learning. In fact, the school itself is something of a monument to hands-on learning: Building trades students were instrumental in designing the campus, and they built its 10 classrooms, four offices and conference room.
“The building was the shell of a warehouse,” says Steve Carney, Pioneer’s former principal and now director of charter schools. “The students constructed 100 percent of the interior, including the electrical, sheetrock—everything. This is a really good way to reconnect these students with school. Students here have a real pride in what they’ve accomplished.”
Designed to keep potential dropouts in school and provide meaningful vocational educational alternatives for troubled students, the center’s programs are also boosting its students’ academic skills. Pioneer has a graduation rate of 98 percent, and 95 percent of its students pass the California High School Exit Exam by the time they are seniors.
Equally impressive, say school supporters, is the fact that 40 percent of Pioneer graduates go on to two- or four-year colleges.
“We didn’t expect that,” Carney says. “For a lot of our kids, this was the first time they’d been successful.”
Pioneer Principal Alyson Crafton says she thinks of Pioneer as an “intervention school” because teachers and administrators address the needs “of the whole child.”
Take, for example, one Pioneer student who refused to attend class. After talking with her mother, Crafton discovered the girl had witnessed her father’s suicide and was terrified her mother would also abandon her.
“I made a pact with the mom. She agreed to drive her daughter onto campus, and I would walk her from the car into the building,” Crafton says. “She slept all day in my office for the first few weeks because she wasn’t sleeping at home.”
Pioneer staff found counseling for the family and followed up later when mom and daughter began missing appointments. Gradually the staff convinced the girl to begin attending a single class. “Eventually she was taking a full load and passing all her classes,” Crafton says. “You couldn’t throw this child into a regular classroom.
“Being a technical school helps because that’s a great way to get students interested in school. But it’s more than that. We care about our students and respect them. We give them many, many, many chances.”
As she prepares for her upcoming graduation, Pioneer senior Serenity Navarro says it’s the caring attitude of school staff that made the difference for her. “The most important thing for me was acceptance,” she says. “Whatever I brought to the table, they dealt with it.”
Navarro says she learned plenty of academics at Pioneer, but the most important lessons were personal. “I learned how to respect others and self-discipline,” she says. “I learned to control my anger and to keep my mouth shut.”
The center won a CSBA Golden Bell in 2007 in the category of “Invigorating High Schools.” Sara Wilkins, president of the Madera County Board of Education who represents COEs as an at-large director of CSBA, says she insisted that Pioneer staff apply for a Golden Bell.
“I know a winner when I see one, and I knew this was a winner,” Wilkins says. “The program is absolutely phenomenal. It’s exceeded all our expectations.”
Wilkins participated in a recent graduation ceremony for Pioneer students, during which the principal described the obstacles each student had overcome to succeed on this special day. “I was so moved by what I heard, that I was in tears,” Wilkins says. “All some of these kids needed was a chance to succeed.”
—Carol Brydolf