Falcon School District 49ís Patriot High School held an open house in early April to showcase their alternative curriculum and recent rebranding effort. Principal Dan Mulay said the event was not only for students and families but also for D 49 staff. Patriot is the only high school in D 49 designed for non-traditional learning. ìA lot of the students we serve are having trouble in their lives,î Mulay said. ìThe purpose of the open house is to really give parents and community members a chance to see what we do, to come and visit the new Patriot High School.îLocated at 11990 Swingline Road in Falcon, Patriot recently entered its ninth year of operation. The location at one time housed both the junior high and the Falcon campus of Pikes Peak Community College.Patriot is designed to give challenged students a place to re-adjust and academically improve, Mulay said. The school relies on smaller classroom sizes and an emphasis on blended learning, which is a form of education that utilizes online classrooms.Research conducted in the last decade suggests children tend to do better in online settings. According to the U.S. Department of Education, ìStudents who took all or part of their class on the Internet performed better, on average, than those taking the same course through traditional face-to-face instruction.îIn addition to its core academic curriculum, Patriot also offers a Career and Technical Education program. The school said their CTE programs are designed to put students on the right path to success by educational opportunities in culinary and visual arts, construction, hospitality and health science.ìWeíre showcasing our versatility tonight,î Mulay said. ìBlended learning has enormous potential, and weíre interested in letting people see how it operates. The student has some control over the time, the place and the pace that theyíre working at. Thereís significant flexibility there.îAccording to the schoolís website, Patriot facilitates a diverse community that stresses learning through creativity and special attention given to studentsí individual needs. Children may exhibit everything from mental health issues to flat-to-poor attendance. Patriot tries to address lack of motivation by engaging studentsí senses and relating coursework to their immediate environments.ìThere are currently nine teachers in the high school. Homework is only assigned as needed, and class sizes are rarely larger than 15 students Ö . Students are chosen through the combined input of parents, the referring school, and the teachers and administration at Patriot Learning Center. They are admitted on a needs and numbers basis, with the final decision coming from Patriot High School.îAt the open house, Patriot administrators and staff focused on their alternative curriculum and changes the school has made. Patriot recently initiated a rebranding effort, transitioning their mascot to a stylized bison. School officials also intend to move away from a standard semester-based academic year and implement a new trimester system, perhaps beginning as soon as next year.ìWeíre interested in better serving kids and their families,î Mulay said. ìThat change would allow students to enter a school year during three separate enrollment periods rather than two. With trimesters, they can come in midway through a year without having to wait.îA small but important part of the larger D 49 system, Patriotís student body is about 125. The school offers most if not all the same core classes found at larger high schools in the region, but Mulay asserted Patriotís main purpose is to give students an opportunity to learn at their own pace. Smaller class sizes equals better one-on-one instruction and more flexibility for students, parents and teachers.ìWe are slightly more compact than Falcon High or Sand Creek or wherever else you can go,î he said. ìThe important thing is that weíre an alternative school, and a lot of struggling kids benefit from the kind of learning that we can provide.î
