C.A.R.E.E. Academy

The program at C.A.R.E.E. Academy is built on the foundation of Abraham Maslow’s famous hierarchy of needs. By ensuring that students are provided with the elements needed to achieve the goals at each level, they are given the opportunity to continue to develop as human beings.

First, their basic needs are met through providing a comfortable physical environment: air conditioned classrooms, free meals, local restrooms, transportation, school supplies, and referrals to local agencies. Second, their safety needs are met through the use of full-time security guards, a wellness center, monitoring of student/staff entry to the campuses, and careful and attentive enforcement of school policies and rules. Third, students’ need for belonging is met through the careful implementation of teaching practices within the classroom setting: developing working teams, provision of a private locker, parental and student access to staff, and scheduled celebrations of student success are the building blocks of the overall program. Fourth, students’ self-esteem is enhanced through the identification of individual strengths and interests, professional counseling, goal development and “Success Celebrations,” in which individual and group accomplishments are recognized in a meaningful way. Fifth, students are helped toward self-actualization by being allowed to submit assignments for a higher grade, processing thoughts and issues through assigned journaling, receiving formal awards quarterly, and given referrals to community resources that enables them to move toward already identified individual goals.

All these components serve to provide the students with a meaningful education while developing the knowledge, skills, and abilities that will enable them to be successful members of society in the years to come.

Self-Actualization

 

By providing an enriching, encouraging, and supportive environment in which students are welcome to engage and learn, students grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally. In order to facilitate this process, the following is in place at C.A.R.E.E.:

• Students are able to resubmit assignments if they wish to receive a higher grade

• Students record thoughts, wishes, progress and successes in their journals at the start of each class session.

• Student successes are celebrated in a larger setting once a quarter at family night; this is when formal awards are given.

• At the end of each semester, students give a speech in which they describe what they have learned and what their future plans are

• Students are counseled and given information to agencies and community resources that can assist them in achieving their individual goals.

 

Self-Esteem

 

By emphasizing the development of employable skills, the student is able to recognize the value of the program. These skills translate into jobs in the real world, and recognizing the ability to apply skills is a key to keeping students engaged in the school environment. The school program includes personal and group counseling alongside the skills training component, and this further enhances the students’ ability to recognize and develop personal strengths within a safe and secure school setting.

• Employment Counseling: Students’ strengths, weaknesses, interests, and disinterests are identified. Throughout the courses, the Individual Plan is adapted to meet students’ needs.

• Individual Counseling: Therapists are available and work with individual students throughout the course sequence.

• Group Work/Success Celebrations: Each week, time is set aside to recognize the individual and/or group accomplishments in a meaningful way.

• Future Plans: Throughout the program, students are encouraged to develop plans for the future; this may include the completion of employment, college, or trade school applications and preparation.

Belonging/Love

Developing group belonging and the social skills needed to participate effectively in a group setting is a key to a successful future in society. The school program promotes a confident environment, one in which all students are able to learn, express, and improve personal skills that will be useful in their future lives. The school is focused on improving the interpersonal relationships of each of the students, while recognizing the family unit as an important base of our society.

• Students are organized into working teams in order to develop the needed employment, cooperative, and social skills required to be functional members of the larger society.

• Each student has a private locker, in which personal items are kept.

• Parents are able to meet the teacher(s) by phone or in person by scheduling a meeting after or before school.

• School Night is scheduled every three months with the purpose to check the progress of the students.

 

Safety

 

The safety of the school environment is an important aspect of the educational program. While being housed within a comprehensive high school environment, the additional safeguards for students at CARRY are as follows:

 

• The school has two full time security guards.

• There is a wellness center for students if they become sick or need care.

• All students and staff have electronic badges in order to enter and leave campus. This information will be recorded on the security computer.

• School rules, expectations, and consequences for personal
  behaviors with daily classroom reinforcement are posted and followed carefully.

 

Basic Needs

In order for students to develop to their potential, the basic needs of humanity must be met. Within the comprehensive school setting, the attention to basic needs are as follows:

 

• There is a free nutrition center that provides quality food and
  snacks in order to sustain optimum learning conditions.

• All basic school supplies will be provided or are available to those who may have forgotten or don't have the resources necessary that would enable task completion.

• Air conditioning and heating units are in all work areas.

• Transportation to and from school will be provided based on need.

• Staff maintain a list of additional resources/information relevant to individual students’ needs.