The Montana Board of Public Education reviewed charter applications on Wednesday, including for the Lion’s Path Academy in Lockwood.
Lockwood Schools' alternative charter school would help students who may be falling behind.
It will be inside Lockwood High School so those students will still have that connection.
Lily Gill is a sophomore at Lockwood High School and has dreams of becoming a pediatrician.
“I love kids first off and this school really helped me a lot,” Gill said.
And last year she needed help.
“I would like really never show up,” Gill said. “I was failing all of my classes.”
Gill received mentoring, which would be a big part of the Lion's Path Academy charter school.
“We want those kids to know there's a place for them,” said Don Christman, Lockwood superintendent. “Whether that's just a question of, I don't feel like teachers see me and I want to be heard, to kids that say, I don't even know if anyone knows who I am or really cares how I do here, we need to change that concept.”
Christman helped present the proposal to the Montana Board of Public Education on Wednesday for possible approval.
“We'll have three or four teachers just dedicated to the kids in the Alternate Ed program in the Lion's Path Academy,” Christman said.
Currently, there are 19 charter schools across the state including three in the Billings Public Schools.
House Bill 549 was signed into law in 2023 to establish charter schools throughout Montana.
“The charter school gives us that that opportunity to be able to fund additional teachers, additional resources, and to find that extra space that need,” said Cole Cavan, Lockwood High assistant principal.
Cavan would oversee the charter school.
“We have students that are at risk for not graduating either on time or at all,” Gwen Poole, Lockwood High principal, said to the board on the Zoom meeting.
This year, Lockwood saw several students opting for the high school equivalency test (HiSET) program at School District 2's Lincoln Center.
That motivated the idea with the administration wanting its own program to help keep at-risk students in Lockwood and encouraging attendance and accountability.
“They might just need a smaller class environment, more one-on-one with a teacher,” Cavan said. “And this will give them just a, a better opportunity to be, be successful.”
The Board of Public Education will host a meeting in January to decide on the 12 applications.
“It's going to help me a lot, especially to achieve my goal in life too,” Gill said.
