MUSD prepares to open Ram Academy

Around 125 high school students will soon enter an alternative program at Maricopa High School.

Ram Academy is set to open Aug. 7 for students who have fallen behind in their coursework.

The man who will run the school is MHS Assistant Principal Stephen Ybarra.

“The alternative school is going to take students who are four or more credits behind and transition them into this academy,” he said.

The program will function on campus grounds. Three classrooms will be used inside the school’s existing Career & Technical Education building. Math and English classrooms will sit just north of the CTE department inside two portable buildings that have yet to arrive.

Once school begins, students will attend class from 2 to 7:45 p.m., Monday through Thursday, allowing the academy to operate in classroom spaces that will be unoccupied by traditional MHS students and staff by that time.

Students will also have the option to attend school on Friday to complete extra work, but Ybarra said that it is not required.

Through the voter-approved override, Ybarra hired five teachers for the academy. Subjects taught will be English, math, science, social studies and art.

Ybarra said the program will have about a 25-to-1 student-teacher ratio inside classrooms.

“Everybody that I’ve hired is an experienced teacher. When I did the interviews I was looking for people who are going to create relationships with students,” Ybarra said.

One of those hires who Ybarra said fits that profile is English teacher Sandy Juniper. She previously taught at Compadre Academy, an alternative high school in the Tempe Union High School District, Ybarra said.

Academy students will attend four classes per day, instead of the usual six, Ybarra said. The block schedule will lengthen class times to 105 minutes each, and will allow students to accumulate credit faster.

“Students are going to get credit every nine weeks,” Ybarra said. “They will have the same number of hours in class, but because we are going longer, they are going to get credit a little quicker.”

The range of credit deficiency between some incoming students is between one and 12.5 credits, Ybarra said.

A snapshot of the academy’s first class includes around 55 “fifth-year seniors” or “seniors who should have graduated, but haven’t yet,” Ybarra said.

Filling the rest of the seats will be 55 incoming seniors and 15 juniors. Student will not be able to participate in sports or other extra-curricular activities that are held in the evenings because of the class hours of the academy.

Buses will transport students to and from school, Ybarra said, and they will also be provided a meal after their second class of the day.

Ybarra said the academy is at capacity, but as some students graduate out of the program early, new students will be let in.

Once students receive enough credits to graduate, they will be given a diploma from Maricopa High School and are eligible to walk during the graduation ceremony in May.

“We are just trying to create a pathway for them to be successful,” Ybarra said.