Over the past 17 years as high school alternative programs coordinator, I have met many talented and promising students who have attended PASS, PALS and I-CARE. For various reasons, each one of them had been unsuccessful within traditional school settings and had been considered high-need and at-risk. During the first 17 years of PASS, 905 students earned their high school diplomas, ranging from 9 the first year to 94 graduates our top year. These students are productive citizens in Kingman as well as around the world, and I am proud to say they are teachers, nurses, business owners, secretaries, servicemen in the Army, Navy and Marines, as well as continuing students and parents of the next generation. We see them working everywhere we shop, eat or do business in Kingman!

Our PALS and I-CARE students go on to graduate from PASS or KHS. PALS students begin as students who struggled their freshman year or are behind by their junior year, yet they go on to pass AIMS and stay in school. I-CARE students have had problems with following rules, but most who finish I-CARE go on to succeed at PASS or KHS.

For the 2008-09 school year, we are starting the PACE program, which is taught by both PALS and PASS teachers, because we felt that many I-CARE students were too far behind to succeed at KHS, but did not have enough credits for PASS. Our PALS program is changing from Positive Applied Learning Styles to Positive Acquisition of Language Skills as the PALS teachers take on the challenge of teaching English Language Learners. The PALS concept will return to KHS as TEAMS. PALS teachers will also offer AIMS workshops to PASS students as well as students from PASS or KHS who have “graduated” but not passed AIMS.

You might ask “Why?” We feel that it is because many students need a small, intimate educational community that nurtures individual social, academic, and personal growth. PASS, PALS, PACE and I-CARE offer a safe learning environment for students to build skills and increase personal resiliency. This increases the likelihood of success in society as young adults. I appreciate our school staff who work diligently each day to meet student needs and provide students with support and encouragement to realize their full potential. With me, they welcome you to PASS, PALS, PACE and I-CARE and hope you will have a successful and rewarding school year!

Sincerely,

Sandy McCoy
Director