DISTRACTIONS CAN HINDER STUDENT SUCCESS

Community Education Partners

INTRODUCTION Community Education Partners (CEP) provides academic and

behavioral interventions for children in the sixth through the twelfth grades. CEP is contracted by the local schools to create and administer an alternative school for students with serious conduct code violations or who are academically lagging. Emerald Bay Academy is one successful example of a Community Education Partners school.

Emerald Bay Academy has a different approach to education. An alternative school for students who are at-risk, Emerald Bay has a uniform requirement, segregates boys from girls, limits conversations between students, and searches students coming to school for contraband every day upon entering the school. 

DISTRACTIONS The school removes as many sources of potential drama as it can,

including personalized clothing, unsupervised free time, and large restroom facilities. 

Emerald Bay Academy accepts children who are sometimes several grades behind academically, and turns them around to succeed at learning and move up to their appropriate grade level. Some children go on to make straight A's in the highly disciplined setting. The students say the lack of distractions help them to concentrate.

The school contributes its students’ success by making them believe that more is possible. The staff explained that when giving a student higher standards to meet they rise to the occasion. “They are somebody with us,” Principal Comerford said.