Jacob Fraire
REAP standard uniform consists of the gray shirt and the colored vests representing different levels of behavior.
For more than 20 years Rogers Education Alternative Program has served as a credit recovery opportunity for high school students who have been nearly expelled by their home campus.
Students get sent to REAP after they have done an action at their boundary, either Heritage or Rogers, worthy of higher punishment. Rather than getting expelled from the school district, they are given the opportunity to still receive their credits at REAP.
This decision is decided at the student’s Interdisciplinary Hearing known as an IDH. This meeting not only decides if the student should go to REAP, but also for how long, the maximum time being one calendar year.
The school offers the same standard core classes and select elective classes, but while it might sound similar, safety and procedures are far from what students know at their home campus.
There are usually under 50 students attending REAP. From the moment they enter, students walk through a metal detector and empty out their pockets, putting all personal belongings into a bag for the admin to keep during the school day. Students are required to wear a color-coded vest representing their behavior level. Everyone starts off with a green vest, representing the lowest rank in behavior. Next is yellow, a step up from green, representing improved behavior, and finally no vest at all is the highest level, representing the students that have proven their growth.
REAP has a strict no extracurricular activity rule, which also leads into a separate policy stating that students are not permitted to be at a school-sanctioned event for any reason, on or off campus. That does include events such as prom, any sport event, and even graduation. The consequence for violating these rules can lead directly to arrest and expulsion from REAP.
“Usually the things that get students here are major offenses against school policies, so the rules are in place to help make sure those students don’t break those offenses again,” said REAP counselor, Sarah Higgins.
However, the environment of the building can feel different to students compared to teachers or administrators. For safety, and to prevent unequal treatment of former students of REAP, the Talon staff has removed all student names and identifying information.
“I was sent [to REAP] for terroristic threatening. Honestly, I learned nothing because the teachers just give you the answers. The teachers were really nice and comforting but the environment made me feel like I was a bad kid,” said Student 1.
Former students said that they feel that REAP didn’t prepare them academically for their return to their boundary school. REAP focuses more heavily on life skills, counseling and therapeutic techniques. While these teachings are important and useful for the circumstances, students shared that it doesn’t properly help them to transition back to their regular schools since the public schools expect higher skills in mathematics and English.
“REAP doesn’t actually help us go back to normal school,” said Student 2. “REAP is supposed to rehabilitate us to be able to go back to regular school but it makes it worse. The work there is super easy and nothing like actual school and the kids there are bad influences to be around.”
Despite these perspectives, the teachers feel that REAP is an opportunity to grow and recover credits rather than a place of discipline.
“We want students to know that we don’t look at REAP as the punishment, the consequence is the hearing and being removed from your home campus. We are the opportunity to earn credits while you are experiencing the consequence,” said Higgins.
Ultimately, REAP exists as an alternative to expulsion and gives students an opportunity to earn a high school diploma. Many students who end up at REAP return to their home schools after their sentence time, and cannot be returned to their original school earlier than assigned.