Editor

At last week’s Gordon Odyssey Academy information meeting, members of the Fairfield Central High Griffin football team demonstrated some warmup exercises, including something called the “Thousand Steps”.

They might almost have been demonstrating the journey to create a school like the Gordon Odyssey Academy, but as they say, the journey of “a thousand mile begins with a single step.”

The Fairfield County School District may have taken that single step with the creation of the Gordon Odyssey Academy.

In her remarks following the warmup demonstration, Academy principal Dr. Tammy Shadd pointed out the football players need to be in condition, and added, “as a school district, we have to make sure that we’re in a condition that will make positive results.”

Fairfield school board chairman Harold “Coach” Heath said the Odyssey Academy “in the past, we’ve had alternative schools for students who had behavior problems, but in these changing times, with education changing, this Academy will afford students who need to be in a different setting...with courses geared to their needs.

“The Academy will also afford students who are behind in academics, to be able to recover those classes,” he said.

He added, :we as a community have to receive this opportunity, take advantage of it, and we have also got to buy into it, and the sky’s going to be the limit for this school district,” Heath said.

According the the brochures prepared for parents and the presentation made by Dr. Shadd at the meeting, the Gordon Odyssey Academy will consist of several components.

For high school students:

Credit Recovery from core courses in the areas of Math, Science, Social Studies and English;

Dual Credit Courses (January 2009) Courses are offered at the college prep level;

HSAP test preparation for Math and English Language Arts.

For 7th-12th grade students:

Behavior Modification program, ‘provides a second chance for middle and high school students to experience academic success before returning to their home school.’ This contains both an academic component, and such behavior components as character education, test-taking, goal setting, physical training and behavior modification.

For first-time retained 9th graders:

Jump Start I, a program offered to ninth graders who have not been promoted to the next grade. At the end of the semester, students who have earned the needed credits will return to their home school as tenth graders. Participation requires ongoing family involvement;

Jump Start II will be offered during the second semester and target the overage eighth grade students who have not been promoted one or more grade levels.

For adults:

Adult education programs will be offered for a diploma, GED, HSAP remediation, skills enhancement, workplace literacy and other adult education programs.

There will be early morning academic sessions and after-school academic sessions for the students seeking credit recovery or dual credit or HSAP prep.

Students in the behavior modification component will be required to attend full-day academic session, as will students in Jump Start I and II.

Adult Ed sessions will be offered in the morning and evening.