Opportunity School
We believe a suspension can do more harm than good. Sending a student home from school does not address the root cause of a student’s behavior; it removes students from the learning environment; and it has a disproportionate impact on African American students and students with disabilities, among other marginalized groups that are underperforming academically and overrepresented in our criminal justice system. Legislation in recent years, reflecting extensive research, has sought to minimize the use and impact of suspension. The state’s new accountability system reports suspensions and incentivizes minimizing the use of punitive discipline.
The RCSD offers the opportunity school program as an alternative for suspension and for students in grades 6-8 who are struggling behaviorally and/or academically. The program identifies students who present behavior challenges at our middle schools and who fall under the Tiers 2-3 level. See our Tiers of interventions below.
Tier-1: Schools provide all services available to all students in a proactive and supportive manner following the RCSD-MTSS tier- 1 interventions.
Tier-2: Schools provide support services that will support students who need academic, behavioral and/or mental health.
Tier-3: Schools provides support services that will support students who need academic, behavioral and/or mental health. When needed, schools will refer students who need more intensive support measures due to the level of behaviors and/or mental health needs. This will be a collaboration among all parts involved, school, parents and the opportunity school program.
What is Opportunity School?
- Opportunity School is a rehabilitative program that combines reflection activities with time to catch up on academic work. The goal is to provide students the opportunity to self-correct past behaviors.
- Students engage in reflection and goal setting activity at the beginning of each day to focus their work and identify areas of needed support.
- Students follow an alternate schedule and have brunch and lunch apart from the rest of the school.
- Opportunity School hours are from 8:15 am - 2:15 pm. This may vary from the student's regular school schedule.
Our current model offers students attending the program with the opportunity to be in the program for a week or two weeks, and then return to their home school. There is also an opportunity to start at a new school site. This is a collaborative decision among the school administration, teachers, parents and students.
Criteria for Opportunity School
- The student has created a safety issue on campus that could be corrected with a temporary change of placement.
- The student needs a temporary change of school environment to "reset".
- The site has followed its PBIS plan and progressive steps to change student behavior.
- The student has a desire to change and work in a calm, small, classroom environment.
Support Services for 6-8 General Education Students Protocol.
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Steps |
General Outline |
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1 |
Schools will identify students and fill out a referral for opportunity school services |
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2 |
Opportunity school teacher will review the referral form |
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3 |
Opportunity school team will meet to identify services needed |
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4 |
The opportunity school teacher will reach out to school to inform of what services the opportunity school program will provide |
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5 |
School will contact the family to introduce opportunity school services available to the family |
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6 |
School will communicate with the opportunity school teacher regarding parent contact |
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7 |
Opportunity school team will be informed by the opportunity school teacher of parent contact |
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8 |
Each service provider will contact the family to obtain consent and conduct initial assessment |
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9 |
Email communication will be sent from Opportunity school teacher to gather information on:
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10 |
Opportunity school service will commence |