21 Aug 2010

Students who couldn't behave in a regular classroom or dropped out are returning to the classroom and doing well at a new privately run school, according to a Clarke County School District graduation adviser. "It seems to be working pretty well - pretty dog-gone good," said Rick Dunn, the school district's graduation coach coordinator. "Students seem to be adapting to the environment and there doesn't seem to be a lot of behavior issues from what I can tell."

10 Jul 2010

A dropout-prevention program in Limestone County changed the lives of 27 children this past year. Without it, they never would have graduated with high school diplomas. The Ombudsman program has increased the school system’s graduation rate by 5 percent in just one year, said Donna Morris, Limestone County PASS coordinator. The success at Limestone — the first school system in the state to try the program — has caught the attention of state education officials and other schools.

07 Jul 2010

Anson County Schools will partner with Ombudsman Educational Services to operate Anson Academy, a new alternative education program for students in grades six through twelve. Anson Academy is one of 25 schools in North Carolina to be awarded a three-year School Improvement Grant making possible this strategic partnership. The Anson County Board of Education approved moving forward with Ombudsman at their May 2010 business meeting contingent upon grant funding.

26 Jun 2010

Ombudsman will be conducting interviews on June 30 and July 1 for its four-person staff to work with Grand Island Public Schools students who have been expelled and students who are involved in the court system. John Wacha, Ombudsman assistant vice president for center operations, said Ombudsman will be seeking to hire a center director. The remaining three positions will be for teachers.

07 Jun 2010

About 115 students are enrolled in Tupelo's Alternative School program. They're sent to the Fillmore Center because of behavior violations. Now the district plans to take a new route: handing the alternative school over to a private company. Ombudsman Educational Services, which specializes in alternative learning environments, will change the alternative school's academic structure and add a new component.

06 Jun 2010

He was the kid who always had his hood up and was always sleeping in class. Maybe not so much sleeping as just checking out. Patrick Merrill, 18, had found the regimen of regular high school to be intolerable. After seeing his grades and an already low interest level fall through the floor, Merrill was knocking on the door when Stevens High School's new alternative learning program, Ombudsman Educational Services, opened on Pleasant Street last fall.

06 Jun 2010

ATHENS — A Limestone County program aimed at keeping students from dropping out graduated 27 students in its first class. The Limestone Ombudsman program helps students who are at risk of dropping out of school due to lack of academic credits, learning problems or social and family challenges that keep them from succeeding in a traditional high school setting. The program, which started in August 2009, is a partnership of Limestone County Schools and Ombudsman Educational Services. The graduation was May 25.

02 Jun 2010

TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) - Wednesday is graduation day for 28 students who may not have gotten this far without their alternative school. The students got their diplomas from Charter Valencia and [Charter Central] Ombudsman Schools. The school is mainly for kids who are at risk for not graduating at all.

01 Jun 2010

The Alliance for Excellent Education claims the class of 2008 dropouts will cost the nation more than $300 billion in lost wages. Tulsa Public Schools is trying to flip that statistic. Tulsa Public Schools' new Continuation School is a partnership with a national program called Ombudsman. It offers struggling students personalized education plans to keep them in school.

28 May 2010

A Haitian earthquake survivor received her high school diploma Thursday in Tulsa. The student, Kimberly Petruce Eloi, had just returned home from school in January when her house began to shake as an earthquake struck, devastating her country's capital and its suburbs. At the time of the disaster, Eloi's aunt, Christine Laurore, was in her first year as the principal of the Ombudsman and Tulsa Public Schools Continuing Education High School.