PASS program offers afternoon schooling to earn high school diploma

Jenna Athamni, 18, is in her first semester of college today. But there was a day that she believed she wouldn’t finish high school.

A Wareham afternoon school program offered her an alternative to regular and online school, both of which didn’t work for her due to her anxiety and experiences with bullying. The smaller classrooms at the alternative program quelled her anxiety, Athamni said. 

Thanks to the program, she graduated high school one year early with a 4.2 GPA.

“It really did work out for the best. I really don’t think I would have graduated any other way,” Athamni said.

At Wareham schools, students have a non-traditional method of earning a high school diploma through an afternoon school program.

The PASS program, or Pathways to Academic Student Success, is an alternative program for students who wish to take a different path for high school education. The fully accredited program offers classes from 4 to 6 p.m. Monday through Thursday at the McDuffy Educational Center.

“Traditional day education doesn’t meet the needs of all children,” program director Bethany Chandler said. “We’re here to meet every student’s needs every day, and some children focus better with smaller group settings. This is a smaller group classroom setting in a smaller school during afternoon hours.”

Everyone’s there for a different reason. Some students are working to provide an income for their families during school hours or have their own children. Others are caretakers for family members or they “don’t fit into that traditional norm that public schools provide,” Chandler said. “We provide that alternative setting.”

Most teachers in the program are Wareham teachers, and Chandler said “many of them already have those established relationships with some students.”

Allyson Bell, who has been teaching in the PASS program for three years, said the students who stand out to her the most are students she also teaches at the day school.

“It was heartwarming to see one student who had the desire to succeed, earn a diploma, and go to college but who struggled to even come into school because of the level of anxiety she felt just walking in the door,” Bell said. “She, her family, and the school team all worked together to put every possible support in place, but her anxiety just continued to grow, despite her best efforts.”

She said she invited the student to visit one of her evening classes, and she said she still remembers that night.

“She knew one student in the class so she sat next to her and just watched and listened for about 20 minutes.  As she was leaving I quietly asked, 'Are you okay?' And she nodded and said, ‘I think I can do this,’” Bell said. “[At graduation, her mom] said, through tears, how proud she was of her daughter for not giving up and for making it to graduation.”

The program accepts school choice students, or students outside of Wareham who want to attend, and 27 graduated last year in the program’s June graduation ceremony.

It has an average class size of 12 to 15 students and allows students to complete assignments during the regular school day if required.

The program has the same academic expectations and policies as the public school. Each student must take 100 credits, including all the core subjects needed for a high school diploma. Each student also reviews and signs a student and family contract outlining the program’s expectations and is interviewed by Chandler and program coordinator Joe Marcus.

Marcus said direction is a big focus of the program. Each student makes a plan with a guidance counselor, and Marcus and Chandler monitor students’ progress.

“I want to make it clear that while they’ve chosen to come to us, this is a temporary situation,” said Marcus, who has been working with the program for the past decade. “When they graduate, they need to have a direction in life. So that’s the main focus.”

It’s primarily funded through LEA, or Local Education Agency, which oversees public schools within a specific area.