The Career Building Academy has contracted with Peyton School District 23-Jt to provide an innovative learning environment for high school students within the district and other surrounding districts. The campus will open Aug. 11 in the old Peyton Middle School building.Shari Bevans, education director for TCBA El Paso County and principal of the new campus, said TCBA has contracted with the district, but remains a separate entity.TCBA has a Colorado Springs campus and one in Walsenburg, Colorado.ìRick Johnson started TCBA several years ago and worked with the Widefield school district,î Bevans said. Financial constraints put a halt to the program; however, Johnson, who also owns Johnson Heating and Plumbing, was determined to keep the program going. About two years ago, he met Joy Cress, TCBAís executive director, and together they were able to revive the program, Bevans said.TCBA re-opened in April 2013, with an academic and vocational piece.Bevans said the program graduated 32 students last year. ìMost of those were dropout retrieval and credit recovery kids,î she said. The students can do coursework at their own pace, so catching up on classwork is possible. ìWe had one girl start this past year,î Bevans said. ìShe had four credits from Harrison school district. She graduated (from TCBA) and ended up graduating a year early. She went from four to 23 credits in a little over a year,î Bevans said. Twentythree credits is the required number of credits for graduating from the Harrison district.Each studentís home school rules apply to academic requirements for students. ìThe courses they take are required by their school district,î Bevans said. One of Bevansí roles is to ensure students meet the graduation requirements of their districts.ìIf your district requires four years of English, then they take four years of English,î she said. The academic classes are ìteacher supported online core academics,î which means the courses are offered online, but staff members are available to provide assistance both inside and outside the classroom, as well as proctoring exams.TCBAís program offers three tracks to students, Bevans said. With track one, students spend a half-day in their home district and a half-day at TCBA for vocation. Track two is an all-day program at the TCBA campus, with academics and vocational training taking up a half-day each. Track three is a more intensive program, available at the Walsenburg campus.The Peyton campus offers education in the construction, automotive, culinary arts and agriculture fields. ìWe find professionals that teach these things,î Bevans said. ìTCBA is funded through PPR, the perpeople revenue from the school district. We contract with the school district, and they pay us part of the revenue that they get from the state, based on which track theyíre in.î The district pays a percentage, which is based on the number of students and the track in which students are enrolled.Bevans said TCBA also applies for several grants. Student projects in the various career fields also provide funding. The construction students in Colorado Springs, for example, have built and sold homes, and the money from the sales stays with the construction part of the program. Likewise, the money earned through catering in the culinary classes stays with the culinary program. ìAutomotive rebuilt a Firebird that was raffled off at the Pueblo car show at the beginning of June,î Bevans said. That money remained with the automotive program. ìEach program also has to do some of its own work to try to sustain itself,î she said.The program is open to any high school student, age 16 through 20; Johnson interviews all applicants. ìHe wants to know where they are coming from, where they want to go and how he can help get them there,î Bevans said. She said TCBA accepts students according to space. The Colorado Springs campus has 30 computers, so they can have at least 60 track two students.Bevans said they could have more of the track one students coming in for the vocational piece. ìAt the Peyton campus, we have two computer labs, so we could have more online,î she said. Additionally, they expect surrounding districts, especially in the rural communities like Yoder, to send students to the program.Students within TCBA keep track of their hours worked to receive credit. The hours students work within the program can be applied toward trade licensing, Bevans said.The more hours they have determine licensing for a trade, along with income they can expect once they graduate. Bevans said the academy is about relationship building between students and staff. They have a small class base, and students have the cell phone numbers of the teachers and staff, she said. ìThey call at home, on the weekends; just to talk, if they need help getting into their computer courses, et cetera,î Bevans said. ìRelationship is important. We shouldnít be treating every kid as though theyíre going to college because not everyone will. We should be teaching them things that make them successful citizens. Whether that be balancing a checkbook, buying a car, or (learning) a trade; weíre failing a big part of our youth in not offering them the things they need.îThe Peyton campus held an open house and registration sign up in July, but Bevans said students can be accepted into the program, which takes about two years, at any time throughout the school year. ìWe anticipate more (students) because once word gets out, kids talk about how great the program is,î she said. ìI expect we will get a big enrollment after school starts.îFor more information, visit the TCBA website at http://tcbacademy.org, or call 719471-4918 or email info@tcbacademy.org.
