BENZONIA -- Jenna Drake didn't plan on dropping out of high school. She had attended Benzie County schools since kindergarten.
Then she became pregnant with her son Travon, now 7 months, and a daily class schedule wasn't possible. She left Benzie Central High School last September, a few weeks into her junior year.
She'll resume 11th grade this fall at a countywide alternative education program, a joint effort of Benzie Central and Frankfort high schools that closed three years ago for lack of funding.
"I'm pretty excited to go," said Drake, 18, of Beulah. "It's going to give a lot of kids the opportunity to get the education they need (to) be able to go somewhere in life."
Nearly 35 students from both high schools have signed up for the alternative program, students who, for a variety of reasons, have been unsuccessful in a traditional school setting.
The Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians awarded the districts a $25,000 grant and use of classroom space in its Benzonia office. Federal stimulus dollars will fund the rest.
"There was still a noticed need to bring this back into the area," tribal Chairman Derek Bailey said. "Our communities benefit from that."
The program fell victim to district budget cuts, Benzie Central Principal Pete Olson said, adding that enrollment will determine whether it can be maintained.
In the past, he said, administrators "tried to run our alternative school too much like our traditional school."
That will change this fall. Two teachers will lead the program, to include both in-person and online courses. Students will be able to make up classes they fail, as well as gain additional credits toward graduation.
Daily classes will start at 9 a.m. and run later than the traditional high school. The goal is to remove obstacles that kept students from success in the larger high school, Olson said.
Often, teens who attend alternative programs have jobs to support themselves or their families, are pregnant or had attendance or disciplinary problems. Similar models exist in Traverse City and Kalkaska.
"The students that we're looking at, they're not in school and they have no intention of coming back to the regular education program," Olson said. "There's no question: We have to be flexible."
The program also will help two teachers avoid layoffs this fall, said Sarah Esper, who will teach math and science there.
Resurrecting the program was among staff's priorities since it closed, she said.
"A lot of them really do just have things going on in life," Esper said. "We need to find a way to help these students."
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