MAKING THE GRADE
Alternative school a real life saver
I recently had the distinct pleasure of attending my son's graduation from the Colorado Springs LifeSkills Center. I wanted to pass along my sincere, truly heartfelt appreciation to the staff and the board for a program which, quite literally, saved my son's life.
My son, Paul, is a great kid who always struggled with the structured, formalized environment of the public school system. His grades were poor, but his teachers uniformly thought very highly of him. At the same time, the social environment within the public school system played directly to all of his weaknesses.
After Paul was assaulted at a public high school last fall, at a time when he had failing grades and faced the likelihood of repeating his senior year, my wife and I finally asked the staff if there was any alternative to public high school in town.
They told us about the LifeSkills Center. The program was entirely computer
based and required Paul to get a job as part of his curriculum.
He also had several teacher-advisers who helped him stay on task at his computer
every day.
The result? Paul graduated on time and is now a student at the Musician's Institute in California. That my son would graduate from high school is gratifying. That he would attend college is miraculous.
Colorado Springs LifeSkills Center is a gold nugget within the social services community of Colorado Springs. It has a fantastic staff and board, and they are saving our kids' lives every day. I cannot think of any other social services organization which delivers so much bang for the buck as the Life Skills Center of Colorado Springs.
Michael R. Turner
Waterford, Va.
Originally published in the Colorado Springs Gazette.