Phoenix Learning Center
Phoenix Learning Center is a "student choice" alternative high school program serving at-risk students 16-21 year old young adults in the Buffalo-Hanover-Montrose School District. Students from outside the district may open enroll. Students who choose to complete their high school requirements at PLC talk about the importance of a high school diploma. They also talk about being disenfranchised with school, and if they hadn't been able to attend PLC they would probably have dropped out of school. Many also come to PLC from chemical dependency programs not wanting to fight for their sobriety in the traditional high school where they would be confronted daily with their old habits. Students who struggle with anxiety, depression or 'getting from point A to point B in a timely fashion' often are more successful at PLC.
Student is/has been:
- Performing substantially below performance on a local achievement test
- At least one year behind in satisfactorily completing coursework
- Pregnant or a parent
- Been assessed as chemically dependent
- Physically or sexually abused
- Experienced mental health problems
- Homeless sometime in the last six months
- Limited English proficiency or speaks English as a second language
- Referred by a school district for enrollment in an eligible nontraditional program
- Chronically truant or has withdrawn from school
- Excluded or expelled
- Referred by the school district
- Being treated in a hospital in the seven-county metropolitan area for cancer or other life threatening illness or is the sibling of an eligible pupil who is being currently treated
- 16 - 21 years old
- Grade 10th - 12th+
- Has made significant progress towards graduation based on grade level
- Needs variety
- Needs flexibility
- Needs a smaller setting
- Desires direction from an advisor
- Is an independent learner
- Is committed to his/her education
- Thought process is not hampered by chemical usage
- Is self-motivated
Is Phoenix right for you? Attend an informational meeting if you have further questions or would like additional information. Call or email Stephanie Ward, Assistant Principal, at 763.682.8682.
- Return completed application to Phoenix including:
- Two references and contact information
- Letter of recommendation
- Personal Essay "Why you want to attend Phoenix?"
- All high school transcripts
- Schedule an interview
- Attend interview with at least one parent
