Alternative high schools can help kids who are struggling in regular high school environments. They are different from regular high schools, because of the environment it’s in. The school sizes, the classwork rubrics, and the school schedule. Alternative High schools started in the 1960s and they started putting them in towns where a lot of students struggled. You can basically have a program like this wherever a town feels like they need one. The Alternative high school in West Hartford is called the Reach program. The school allows up to 40 kids a year with some years only having around 25-30. The school day starts at 9 and ends every day at 2:15. It starts later because it helps

kids who struggled with attendance. At a regular high school, you start at 7:30. The Reach program is a good opportunity for kids who are struggling at regular high school. They have an opportunity to come to Reach and get a little more support. Since the class sizes are smaller it gives teachers more time to focus one on one with each student. 

I asked my friend Gabriel Garcia, who also went to Reach what he thinks about the idea of alternative high schools.  “I think it’s useful to develop a child’s character skills.”  Most of the students that went to the Reach program say that it really helped them have a better work ethic and keep them more on track so they could improve their grades and GPA. My friend Will Mcann, who I went to Reach with for 2 years said “It was enjoyable, because you got a good amount of support in your school work, and having no homework helped you keep up with your school work because you had less to worry about.” He also said, “I would recommend it to struggling students, because it helps you get back on track for graduation, because of the less workload.” Alternative high schools have helped so many students over the years with their academics, work ethic, and attendance rate.

A lot of people might be skeptical about Alternative high schools with the later start times, no homework, and more relaxed due dates. A lot of parents think it will make their kids more lazy with school and other stuff and that it might not set them up well for when they go to college if they so choose. Although a lot of Alternative schools have made it so easy for students to find success in different ways without going to college, such as trade school or just simply going right into the workforce. So many kids from reach that graduated when I was there for the three years didn’t even end up going to college, which shows there’s so many other ways to find your way in life without going to college and i think the Reach program has really helped me and other people see that and know that there’s always going to be other options right after high school.