Passages School - About Our School

About Our School

Passages School was created in 1995 to fulfill a need for an alternative educational setting, because large numbers of students were being expelled in the Canton City School District. A committee was formed to oversee its beginning. The committee saw many benefits to the school being a collaborative effort, thus Passages serves not only Canton City students (McKinley & Timken) but Canton Local, Jackson Local, Lake Local, North Canton and Plain Local students. The Passages School program is funded through this collaborative effort. Both the Stark County Collaborative and Canton City Schools provide funding for the staffing needs.

Passages serves up to 70 kids from the mentioned districts who are expelled from their home schools. The program centers around building quality relationships with students, their families and the community along with creating quality classroom lessons that are meaningful and engaging to students. Upon coming to Passages students and their families participate in a two-hour Intake/Assessment with the Family Liaison. During this Intake the students needs both behavioral and educational are assessed. The student is then assigned an advisory team that works with the student during the length of their enrollment. The advisory team is made up of a behavior interventionist and a teacher. The staff at Passages works hard at helping students to take accountability for their behavior as well as helping them to see a need for change. The staff of five teachers,six behavior interventionists, one secretary and one program leader participate in intensive staff development that centers around the philosophies of Dr. William Glasser (Reality Therapy & Choice Theory) and Phil Schlechty (Leadership in School Reform Organization).

The staff at Passages have built strong relationships with the following agencies to help better assist the students that we work with: Juvenile Justice System, The Stark County Court System, Stark Metropolitan Housing Agency, Community Connections Counseling Agency, and Quest Recovery for drug and alcohol assessment and treatment.

STUDENTS SERVED:

2002-2003 School Year/Number Served - 113
2001-2002 School Year/Number Served - 106
2000-2001 School Year/Number Served - 107

Total Number of Students Served (1995-present) - 802

In the Beginning...
By Jamal Parker

My name is Jamal B. Parker and I started at Passages School on the first day school started. During the second week of school I already had a big autobiography to start. This would help the staff get to know me. This autobiography consisted of 13 or more chapters.

The first out-of-school activity I participated in with staff and students was the Stark County Fair. It was kind of fun to see all the farm animals. Even though they stunk, the fair was still fun.

Our next activity was canoeing. To tell the truth, I didn't want to go, but I couldn't get enough when we first entered the water. It took a while for me and my partners (Chris Colbert and Jordan Morris) to get a rhythm going, but we kind of got the hang of it. Too bad it took our canout to flip over five times and me losing my shoe first. I was mad but it was fun.

On Sept. 26 we went to the Timken Company on Harrison Avenue. I had no idea what they did in Timken until today. Timken employees do so much hard work; you have to respect the. Fire, heavy steel and flying sparks made the trip fun and kind of scary for me, but for the people who work there it is just another day at work.

New Staff News
PASSAGES AND CONNECTIONS - New Math Teacher
By David Liming

Kory Smith is 27 years old and grew up in Lake County. He attended Lake County Perry High and moved to Canton, Ohio to pursue his college degree in teaching. Kory attended Malone before coming to Passages and Connections.

Kory has a girlfriend, but they are not married. He doesn't have any children except the students he teaches here at Passages and Connections.

NEW ADDITION - Ms. Dalrymple
By Joe Reeves

One of Passages' newest additions is Ms. Dalrymple. She brings with her 25 years of experience. Before gracing us here at Passages, she taught at Shipley School. I sat down to ask Ms. "D," as we call her, some questions about how she likes her new situation.

When I asked if she feels comfortable here at Passages, she says, "With every new change in life you have to make adjustments and I am still adjusting."

Ms. "D" attended Kent State University and has lived in the Canton area since the age of five. When asked about her feelings regarding her coworkers, Ms. "D" cracks a smile and says, "They're a great group of people."

If Ms. "D" could change occupations to anything besides a teacher she would be a doctor of some sort. Her greatest achievement to today is getting her master's degree, and the one she hopes to achieve before retiring is to be financially secure. In my view I think Ms. "D" is a wonderful addition to our school and will make a serious impact!

For any comments or suggestions for the Passages Post, see Ms. Drobney or Miss Tummel.