BIXBY ALTERNATIVE CENTER
How to apply
Please contact your student’s High School counselor for an application.
About Us
The Bixby Alternative Education Center is an independent program that provides a personalized education experience, small class sizes, and supplementary services. The Alternative School is not designed as a disciplinary program. On the contrary, its purpose is to guide students towards success by employing innovative teaching methods, enhancing access to counseling services, offering individualized course study, accommodating flexible scheduling, maintaining low student/teacher ratios (15:1 or lower), and fostering a supportive classroom environment.
Both the staff and the students work hard to develop an atmosphere based on kindness, mutual respect, and trust. Many of our students have had negative experiences or significant lack of success in school before they come here, so we give them the opportunity to get off to a new start in a new environment with the slate wiped clean of past problems.
All of the students come here voluntarily, and they all sign student contracts in which they agree to attend regularly, study hard, follow the rules, and treat others respectfully. We have never failed to graduate a student who has been willing to abide by that contract. Life doesn’t give people many chances to put mistakes behind them and start anew. In the Alternative School, the students are grateful to have this opportunity, and very few fail to succeed in this environment.
Besides an all-star teaching staff, several other forms of support are available to students and parents. The BAEC Counselor organizes the efforts of a wide range of counselors who help students overcome situations outside of school that have negatively impacted their schooling. These include Daybreak therapists, a school psychologist, a homeless liaison, a school resource officer, and a Tulsa Tech counselor who works with the Alternative School.
We know that almost all of the students who attend Bixby Alternative Education Center are bright enough that they should be able to do well in school, but that there are situations or behaviors that have distracted them from their studies and caused failure or diminished success. Therefore, we believe that addressing students’ mental health is just as important as getting these students to succeed academically.
The BAC spends a great amount of time getting students to believe in themselves and trying to get others to understand that this is not a place where all the bad kids have to go. In literal truth, no one has to go here. We only accept students who apply for the program, who go through an informational forum, who attend a private interview, and who are ready to commit to a student contract. We can’t help students who don’t want to be helped, but we certainly can help those who do.
So what happens after an application is submitted?
Upon receipt of the application, the student's academic records are meticulously reviewed, and the student is invited to an interview with the program's staff. Typically, the program staff conducts interviews primarily with the student. Similar to a job interview, the purpose is to determine if the program is the most suitable fit for the student's needs and goals.
The outcomes of these interviews are thoroughly deliberated among the program's staff. Students who are deemed suitable for the program are granted enrollment, while others are placed on the waiting list.
If accepted, the Alternative Education Director will conduct a meeting with the parents and the student to review the behavioral/attendance contract. Parents and the student are required to demonstrate their commitment by signing the contract, affirming their willingness to adhere to the school's regulations and their dedication to achieving success in the program.
Students who fail to fulfill the obligations outlined in this contract may face the possibility of
having their status revoked and being transferred back to BHS.
Dispelling Myths
Myth #1: The Alternative School is where all of the bad kids have to go.
Fact #1: No one has to attend the Alternative School; it is strictly a voluntary program. Students who want to be considered for enrollment turn in an application, attend an informational forum with their parents and undergo an interview with the school’s principal or counselor. Since the school is always full and always has a waiting list, only those students who need the program the most and are most likely to benefit from it are accepted.
Myth #2: Alt Ed students aren’t like the kids in my neighborhood.
Fact #2: Alt Ed students represent a broad cross section of BPS students. The only thing Alternative students have in common is that they were having a hard time getting through the regular education program before coming to Alternative. They come from every elementary school in BPS, from wealthy families and impoverished families, from every race, and equally from both genders. Their commonality is that—no matter what has happened in the past—they are ready to put their problems behind them and get their education off to a new start.
Myth #3: Alternative students make good grades only because the classes are easier.
Fact #3: Alt Ed students’ grades improve because of the Alternative Education structure. Teachers, School Counselor, and Admin help them to overcome problems so that they can focus on their studies because the school has an outstanding teaching staff who have dedicated their careers to helping struggling students learn to succeed and because these students work very hard. Alt Ed students must take the same classes as regular education students, must cover the same curriculum, and must pass the same classes.
Myth #4: The Alternative School staff are very selective in deciding which students enter the school. They don’t take students who have significant deficiencies.
Fact #4: We accept students every Friday. During our intake process, we take the state-provided definition of an At-Risk student into account and look at if our program provides the best “fit” for the students educational needs.
