Clayton Academy's troubled students get second chance
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Clayton Academy seventh-graders walk to a daily afternoon assembly in single file with their hands behind their backs -- the expected norm for the school.
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In sixth- through 12th-grade classrooms throughout the city, these students were so disruptive they made it difficult for teachers to teach and students to learn.
At Clayton Academy, they walk quietly through the halls -- single file, with their hands behind their backs -- and sit in classrooms doing their work.
The transformation doesn't happen overnight, and for some it is a work in progress.
But district officials and the outside operator of the North Side alternative school for Pittsburgh Public Schools students say the highly structured environment -- coupled with counseling and small class sizes -- has helped students with behavior problems in regular public schools to do better.
Charles Williams, an eighth-grader who came to Clayton in seventh grade from Pittsburgh Arsenal, said he likes having more structure.
"I couldn't learn in my other school," he said. "I was too distracted."
School district officials are recommending the board extend a contract with the current operator for two years for as much as $2.8 million a year or $11,200 per student for 250 students a year. The board is scheduled to vote on Wednesday.
Clayton now has 130 students -- 68 in middle school and 59 in high school.
In the latest plan, Clayton would not only house the disruptive students but also those who violate the drug, weapon and assault portions of the Code of Student Conduct. Such students currently are sent to the district's Student Achievement Center in Homewood.
The achievement center would continue to provide academic supports for other students in grades 6-12.
The goal at Clayton is to get students ready to return to their home schools, although some choose to stay or go back to Clayton. Usually, they stay for at least a semester; the longest has been about 31/2 years.
Allen Austin, an eighth-grader who came to Clayton as a second-semester sixth-grader from Pittsburgh Mifflin PreK-8, said he wants to stay at Clayton until he starts high school at Pittsburgh Allderdice next school year.
First Published February 20, 2012 12:00 am
