The entrance and grounds of REACH, West Hartford’s alternative high school, were spruced up Saturday in preparation for the arrival of student this week.

English teacher Jordan Rueckert (left) and administrator Matt Pace spent Saturday landscaping the area around the REACH building to welcome students who will be arriving on Wednesday. Photo credit: Ronni Newton

By Ronni Newton

When students who attend West Hartford’s alternative high school arrive for the start of the school year on Wednesday, they will be greeted with freshly-landscaped grounds courtesy of one of the school’s teachers and adminstrators.

“My hope is that when the kids arrive and see the beautiful area they will want to pay it forward,” said Matt Pace, a Conard high school assistant principal who is also the program administrator for REACH, West Hartford’s alternative high school. Service learning is a major component of the REACH curriculum, Pace said.

Pace and English teacher Jordan Rueckert arrived at the REACH building, which is located on Conard’s campus, early Saturday morning with a load of fresh mums that they were planting around the entrance. They were also spreading mulch throughout the area.

REACH, which is an acronym for Responsible Educational Alternative for Conard and Hall, has been in existence for the past 15 or 16 years, Pace said, but many in West Hartford don’t even realize it exists or is housed on the Conard campus. “People have been walking by since we have been out here working, asking what REACH is,” Pace said.

Pace said he plans to get some new signage to better inform the public about the program.

This year there will be 41 students involved in the alternative high school program. About two-thirds are from the Conard district with the remaining third from Hall.

Pace said he’d like to see a more even distribution, but the proximity to the Conard area likely appeals to more of those students. REACH is a voluntary program. “We can’t place people here,” Pace said.

Students attend from 9:05 a.m. until 2:15 p.m. and are then free to participate in after school activities.

The late start also allows free time in the morning for the REACH students to take elective courses during periods 1 and 2 at Conard that are not otherwise available in their curriculum. Pace said that Conard Principal Julio Duarte has welcomed the students from the Hall district to take electives as well. Conard physical education teachers also work with the REACH students.

Pace clarified that despite its location and some sharing of staff, REACH is not part of Conard but is its own separate school. It has just qualified for Title I funding he said, which they plan to  use to supplement the social studies program.

Pace said that REACH is not a special education program, but rather is a “tier 3” intervention. “You have to have your thumb on their shirttails. [If not for REACH], my fear would be that they would drop out of school,” Pace said.

“The rigor is equal,” Pace said, comparing the program to Conard and Hall. The classes are much smaller, he said. “They’re engaged here.”

The REACH staff, Pace said, includes full-time English and math teachers, a .8 science teacher, .4 social studies teacher, a work experience coordinator, and a full-time social worker. He said the staff is fabulous. “The staff that teaches here wants to teach here,” he said.

Pace gave a shout out to Tom Calvi at Patrissi’s, who he said “treated us very nicely” when they purchased the flowers and mulch. Patrissi’s has also now signed on as a partner for job shadowing/interning.

All REACH students are required to participate in three job shadowing opportunities and then spend a portion of their final semester doing an internship, Rueckert said. Business partners include businesses involved in real estate and physical therapy, as well as the fire department.

Pace and Rueckert said that they are always looking for business partners. “It’s a great way for our students to get out into the workplace and figure out what they want to do,” Pace said.

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