The Bell County Recovery School is for those who are at least two years behind their classmates. If students don't score high enough on the CTBS tests, they may be eligible to go to class at the Recovery School, and get their G.E.D.
“We prefer that our students stay in high school. We do have the alternative school and this, (G.E.D. Program), is another part we have started to help kids,” stated G.E.D. teacher, Dale Hoskins.
The Secondary G.E.D. program is a last resort for students. It is designed to help students get a diploma and go on to college.
“This is an opportunity for those kids to be able to be enrolled in school and have excess to the vocational school and move right into post secondary. There are no restrictions, in terms of where they live,” Hoskins said. However, there is a cap size for the class. Students are looked at on a case-by-case basis.
“We don't want it to be perceived that this is an easy way,” Hoskins explained.
The Bell County Recovery School Secondary G.E.D. program started last January. At the present seven students have earned their G.E.D. “We have got six students that are in the program, right now. We are hoping, by January, to have 13 students to earn their Secondary G.E.D.'s in a year's time. Those students would have been dropouts, they never would have came back to school and never earned a G.E.D.,” Hoskins stated.
One student that has graduated has gone on to join the military and is stationed in New York. Another is enrolled at Southeast Community College. “Those kids never would have gotten an education. They would have been at home, sleeping until noon or one o'clock everyday, living off the government, basically,” he said.
Students are required to be in class three hours each day, either from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Some students go to vocational school during the morning and attend the Secondary G.E.D. classes in the afternoon, and the opposite. Some are on work release.
One of the student to earn his Secondary G.E.D. is Josh Coffie. “I saw a lot of people sitting around doing nothing, for the rest of their lives. I just wanted to get back into school to get a good education and get a good paying job,” Coffie stated.
Looking around for jobs, Coffie said he could not find any that would pay more than minimum wage. “If I could get a college education, maybe I could go somewhere else, maybe in the justice system,” Coffie explained.
Since Coffie has completed his Secondary G.E.D., he is looking forward to going to college to get an education in the justice system. “I want to be a correctional behavior specialist,” Coffie said. “I want to go to different prisons and talk to prisoners, assess their behavior, maybe set them on the right path,” he added.
Using his own experiences along with the college education he will get, Coffie says he hopes he has the knowledge to help others get on the right path and straighten out their lives.
“I would recommend that anyone get their G.E.D. You can always get help. Anyone can go down and flip burgers. I want to go to college and get a degree. I dropped out of school for a while and I wanted to come back and make something out of myself,” explained Coffie.
The Bell County Recovery School Secondary G.E.D. program has given Coffie a second chance he was looking for, and no criticism for his past decisions. “This is a good program. I have good teachers and people out there, and I would recommend this school to anybody,” stated Coffie.
Bell County School System, is the only one in the area that has a Secondary G.E.D. program. In the state only 19 school systems have approved a Secondary G.E.D. program, but most have not started them. Bell County School System was one of the first to get the relatively inexpensive class started, according to Superintendent George Thompson.
“If students don't score high enough on the CTBS test, taken as a freshmen, they may not have the skills they need to be successful in school program. The Secondary G.E.D. program is a last resort. We do have other alternatives for our kids. We want them to stay in high school, but we have the alternative school that is just another part we have added to help kids that graduation may not be possible for them,” stated Thompson.
There are no restrictions as to where students live. Students living in Bell County will have the first opportunity to sign up for the class. There is a cap size on each of the classes that is offered.
“We look at individuals on a case by case basis and we don't want this program to be seen as an ‘easy' way. We are talking about kids that are 18 years old that may have only five credits or something like that where graduation in a regular high school is not even a remote possibility,” said Thompson.
The state made it possible for such a program about a year ago, and Bell County School System picked up on it immediately. “We as a district saw the need and the board understood we have the opportunity to put this in place and they jumped right on it. Which is very characteristic of this board. They are about kids and that's the way they work,” Thompson noted.
The state legislature, not the state school board, lowered the age for students to drop out from 18 to 16 years, with parents permission. To qualify for the Secondary G.E.D., students have to be behind others, in their grades. There are a number of criteria that students have to meet before they can qualify for the program.
“This is an opportunity that wasn't there before. We have kids, like last year, that got their G.E.D. and went on into Southeast Community College. These are kids that no way, no how, would have been able to be possible for them, if did not have this program,” Thompson said.
Students getting a G.E.D., are those who would not have accomplished getting the degree. “They may have gone to an adult center and got their G.E.D. There is no way they could have accomplished what they accomplished, as quickly as they did and were able to move on and give themselves some options,” stated Thompson.
Thompson says the school system is trying to break the cycle of parents and students don't see the importance of a high school education. In today's world a high school education is not enough to be successful in supporting a family, purchasing a home, or even vehicles. “They have to go on to some secondary of some sort,” Thompson said.
The alternative school is also helping in keeping student in school.
“Our graduation rate is increasing. It is a one-at-a-time-kind of battle. Make sure students come to school and making sure we are offering the kind of experiences they want to have, in school. And teaching them at a level that will give them the skills and abilities that will have to be able to do, to be successful,” Thompson stated.
It is up to the student if they want to increase their education and make it possible to have a good paying job. The Bell County School Systems Secondary G.E.D. program is just one road.
C.J. Harte is a Correspondent for the Daily News. He can be reached via e-mail at charte@middlesborodailynews.com.
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