Two schools, separated by about three miles, serve as bookends to Akron Public Schools’ academic mission.
Akron Early College High School curates an exclusive, and demanding, setting for teenagers who want to push their studies to new levels. Akron Alternative Academy is a last stop — a catchall — for students falling behind in traditional classroom environments.
One program accepts all students, even those from outside Akron. The other turns away about 200 students each year.
Both serve niche student populations. One program helped about 90 students earn high school diplomas last school year, many of whom were at risk of dropping out. The other saw 80% of its students exit high school with an associate’s degree, effectively having completed two years of college coursework.
At first glance, Akron Alternative Academy and Akron Early College couldn’t be more different. Yet a deeper analysis reveals surprising similarities. Both Akron schools do more with less, especially with regard to faculty staffing. They offer robust internal support and partner with outside organizations to set students up for future success.
And leaders in both buildings — Rebecca Green-Pallotta at Akron Alternative Academy and Tom O’Neil at Akron Early College High School – cultivate family environments. Their staff pour themselves into the work, into their students. For these lessons don’t end with the final bell of the day.
“The big thing here is building relationships,” Green-Pallotta said. “Relationships are first. If you don’t have that right, forget it.”
The first day of classes for most of Akron Public Schools is Thursday, Aug. 21.
Attendance, accountability, achievement in Akron schools
“I enjoyed the fact that it did not feel as pressuring as regular school. And I also loved how willing the teachers were to help me when I needed help and they cared about me getting my work done.” – Anonymous student from a graduate exit survey
Green-Pallotta considers her work a calling. After all, she said you can’t work with this population of students — largely at-risk youths falling behind in the classroom — without compassion. It’s the first trait she looks for when interviewing prospective teachers.
“It’s good to love on them,” Green-Pallotta said of her students. “They need it. A lot of them need it. But you get it back in return.”
Support is a requirement when four core teachers, two intervention specialists and one on-site tutor mentor a triple-digit student enrollment.
Akron Alternative Academy, set to operate in its own dedicated building for the first time in a decade, will begin this school year with about 70 students, but that number typically fluctuates. Last year, enrollment settled around 170 students, mostly juniors and seniors.
They reach this program by referral from a school counselor. Many show up due to attendance issues, and all of them have a credit deficiency that’s difficult to overcome in traditional classrooms.
The school also accepts non-native English speakers who are too old to enroll in regular classrooms — the cutoff for Akron Alternative Academy’s free services is age 22. After that, adults who want to earn a diploma must enter a different program through the state.
Each incoming student is paired with a teacher-mentor, and, if needed, outside services through Jobs for Ohio’s Graduates or Project RISE, which services students experiencing homelessness.
Programming is alternative by design. Many of the students face real-life difficulties — providing for family members, housing insecurity and early-life trauma are common. Given that dynamic, days are split into morning and afternoon sessions so students have time to handle other obligations during business hours.
None of that work or alternative programming would amount to student success if it wasn’t for the care and compassion of teachers and staff.
“I think it’s more of a family, you know, tight-knit here,” Green-Pallotta said. “Because you’ve got so many [more] kids at traditional school.”
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Coaching the kids and staff to academic success
Tom O’Neil, the principal at Akron Early College, approaches his leadership duties with a coach’s mentality. While there are no sports teams there, he has instituted pep assemblies and other events to foster school pride.
“You’d think we had a state championship football team,” O’Neil said. “I mean, it’s crazy.”
The program is niche by design. A panel comprised of staff at the school and the University of Akron annually accepts around 100 incoming freshmen.
By junior year, most of those students take on a full load of college credits. The academics are rigorous, but O’Neil believes the culture he’s helped build motivates students and teachers to show up daily for themselves and their work.
One of those students, Simara Vines, graduated from Akron Early College with an associate degree and, just a few short years later, obtained a master’s degree from the University of Akron.
“I really enjoyed my time there because it taught us at a young age how to have grit when it came to overcoming certain things,” said Vines, 21. “And it definitely taught us how to stay focused on our end goals.”
She’s now analyzing reproductive policy in Cleveland for a local nonprofit. Prior to that, she worked for U.S. Rep. Emilia Sykes while obtaining her master’s degree.
That doesn’t mean students don’t struggle, but the size of the school — some 400 students and 15 APS faculty — allows a more hands-on approach.
The teaching load at Akron Early College is shared with the university, where students spend a substantial amount of time.
“We’re small enough that we can catch those kids and give them a ton of support to help them get through this,” O’Neil said.
Expectations for teachers to go above and beyond
Where Green-Pallotta seeks compassionate teachers at Akron Alternative Academy, O’Neil strives for invested educators at Akron Early College.
Both expect staff to go above and beyond.
Whether it’s celebrating attendance at Akron Alternative Academy or making themselves available at the annual lock-ins at Akron Early College, both principals ask their teachers for more than just classroom instruction.
“We want to provide them with the best high school experience they can have,” O’Neil said. “But we need people to be able to do those things.”