New High School To Give Dropouts A Second Chance

School info

-- Anyone wanting information about the city's new high school for dropouts, Middle College High School, may call Sue Byers at Seattle Public Schools, 281-6000.

Seattle's newest high school - to be known as Middle College High School - will open Jan. 30 in the north plaza of Seattle Central Community College.

Enrollment will be small - just 100 students. What sets them apart besides their older age (16 to 21) is that all are high school dropouts, or ``at-risk students,'' looking for a second chance.

Students will work toward regular high school diplomas. There will be no general equivalency diplomas (GEDs). They will have an opportunity to take college-level classes while in high school, using those credits toward their diplomas and banking them for use when they attend college.

Middle College High School will have no sports teams, no school yells and very few extracurricular activities. Sue Byers, who will be the school's first director, said the emphasis will be on math, science, social studies and language arts, ``core subjects'' needed for high school graduation and college entrance.

The school's first 100 students were selected from a long list of applicants, representing what Byers called the multicultural and multiracial makeup of the community.

If the new school is a success, Byers said, there's a real possibility of expanding it to other campuses.

Middle College High School will be located in a newly renovated brown-and-cream-colored, one-story wooden building just north of the brick SCCC campus.

Everett Reagan, a spokesman for SCC, said the driving force behind the school was Alice Houston, assistant superintendent for educational-support services for Seattle Public Schools.

The school - two years in the planning - is patterned after one that has operated successfully for 15 years at New York City's LaGuardia Community College.

Funding is provided by the Seattle Housing Authority, Citicorp and the school district.