By: Deborah Johnson Wood
Lighthouse Academy, Grand Rapids' first school dedicated to providing education and guidance for expelled middle and high school students, recently announced plans to double the student enrollment to 100 students next year. That means the school will need more general education teachers, special education teachers, social workers, and paraprofessionals.
Wedgwood Christian Services operates the school. School leaders recently established a charter school agreement with Ferris State University, facilitating the expansion.
"For the past two years, we've reached our cap of 50 students at mid-year point," says Heidi Cate, principal and superintendent. "Right now we have a part-time overflow program with 30 students who are waiting to get into the school, and I expect that overflow to increase to 50 students."
Lighthouse Academy, founded in 2005, serves students from 15 to 20 Kent County school districts. In the first year, students logged a collective grade-point average of 3.83, up from 1.9. The same year, attendance jumped from 30 percent to 89 percent.
"We're trying to fill a gap for these students and give them what they need," Cate says. "They were expelled from other schools for behavioral issues, so we provide all these life skills and counseling services as a multi-disciplinary team. The families need a very concerted effort to help them get through this."
In April, the school breaks ground on a new facility on Wedgwood's 36th street campus. Students will be grouped into mini schools of 30 students with two teachers, bringing the teacher/student ratio to 1 to 15. The school will move in August from its current location at the former Evergreen Christian School, 2550 Eastern Avenue SE.
Source: Heidi Cate, Lighthouse Academy; Karen Hogan, Seyferth Spaulding Tennyson
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at [email protected].
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