Basics & Beyond enrollment down by 21 students

Any new arrangement might take some time to perfect. While the Newton Community School District’s arrangement with DMACC’s Gateway to College program seems to have numerous benefits, there have been some numbers and details to work out as the working arrangement goes through its first school year.

Gateway to College is a DMACC program that allows students who have exhausted other routes to a diploma or equivalent within their public school districts, but nothing seems to be working. The dual-enrollment program allows students to remain in it until age 21, as long as they stick with it, and allows students to pursue a regular high school diploma while earning DMACC credits at the same time.

However, a decrease this fall in the enrollment in Newton’s Basics & Beyond program has prompted discussions about costs, impacts on regular school-district enrollment and how can the district keep finances and practicality in mind while still encouraging young people to pursue diplomas and other educational achievements.

Basics & Beyond is down to 44 students, compared to 54 for the same time period a year ago. The enrollment was as high as 64 later in the 2014-15 school year, and this is a typical rise of enrollment at Basics as the school year goes along.

Bill Peters, by virtue of being the principal of Newton High School, has more impact than most other Newton administrators. Students can only enroll in the Gateway to College program is they are recommended to DMACC by their district, so Peters and other NCSD personnel must explore all other options in Newton before submitting a student’s name for Gateway.

“As with any school setting, we have some students who succeed at NHS or Basics, and others that have found it doesn’t meet their needs,” Peters said. “NHS refers kids (to Gateway) based upon several factors, but mostly, it’s for the smaller environment and catching up on credits. I think the initial rush of kids will subside, as we have a few kids in there that just turned 20, and this was an option that did not exist before.”

DMACC’s Gateway program is a partnership with school districts around central Iowa, and it is meant to work with communities that have a DMACC campus, such as Newton. The NCSD board of education approved a Gateway program memorandum of understanding with DMACC last winter.

Samantha Martin became the first student technically referred by Newton to graduate from the Gateway program, though her situation wasn’t typical. Not only did she never attend a regular NCSD campus after moving to Iowa from Mississippi, she was also 16 — the low end of the age range for Gateway — when she earned both an NCSD diploma and a nursing assistant certification over the summer.

Martin was behind on Iowa high school graduation credits for her age, and that is what qualified her for Gateway. There are many Newton students in that same category, Peters said, and the enrollment for Basics and Beyond should go up when its next trimester begins next week.

“Basics tends to increase during the year as more kids find it meets their needs for attaining credits with less electives,” Peters said. “We have already made the list and the numbers will increase as the year progresses. The number of NHS or Basics kids at Gateway right now is about 14 or 15.”

Peters described a few scenarios and sequences of events that apply to small groups of students. It’s somewhat a case-by-case decision process, as each student who is behind on credits has a different combination of missing classes, age and year in school and options still untried.

The principal said he would like to see students graduate in a way that reflects well on NCSD statistics, but that isn’t his primary aim. The key is to put each student in the best situation for their own success, he said.

Peters said he would even recommend some students for Gateway if they have already gone through four years of high school, in some situations.

“They will still count as a dropout on our records, but hopefully can gain a diploma — just a year removed,” he said.

While tuition is an issue for high school juniors and seniors who could be at Basics (Newton schools pays 90 percent of the DMACC tuition for those students), it’s not an issue with students who are no longer eligible for any Newton campuses.

“If a student has ‘aged out,’ then we don’t get money from the state, nor do we send money to DMACC,” Peters said. “DMACC must have other ways to pay for those kids until they can get them to graduate (from both a certificate program and high school).

Peters said another option is to have students prepare for and take the HiSet exam, formerly know as the GED.

“Many times, we steer a kid that direction if that makes the most sense for the individual. NCSD does not pay for those kids either.”

Students can take general education college classes at any of the DMACC locations, along with specialty certificate-program courses, such as the construction trades and new court reporting classes offered at the Newton campus. If they find that one of the college’s trade-specific programs, such as automotive or agricultural pursuits, they can finish their degree or certificate at another DMACC site, if they can arrange transportation for classes.

The Gateway program, started about six years ago with a grant from Walmart, has become a regularly funded program, with a long list of donating organizations that includes the Gates Foundation. The program is available at 43 colleges in 23 states.

Peters said he wants to clear the district will be flexible and open-minded when it comes to finding ways for students to get a diploma, certificate or otherwise become educated, if the student is willing to work hard.

“We have some kids there (in the Gateway program) doing well,” Peters said. “And making progress towards graduation. We are happy that they are still working on a diploma despite their struggles.”

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks@newtondailynews.com