Mesa Legend - News - The duality of high school, college at Red Mtn.

The duality of high school, college at Red Mtn.
Jordan Currier
Mesa Legend
Though the average MCC student is about 27 years old, the average MCC student in instructor Maria Martell’s Spanish 101 class is 15.

Martell, who teaches at MCC’s Red Mountain campus, wasn’t prepared for such a large number of high schoolers in her college course.

“You constantly have to say, ‘Are you doing the work? Are you working?’ Because they’re laughing and doing the stuff that they normally do at that age,” Martell said of the 18 high school students in her class of 22.

“I have students that are 14 years old. Socially, they lack certain behavior patterns that perhaps a college student has,” Martell said. “Things so simple as coming in and just dropping their huge backpacks on the floor so that when I come in, I hardly have room to walk.”

MCC at Red Mountain’s neighbor, Arizona Agribusiness and Equine Center, a charter high school, aims to get their students college-bound as young as 14 by reducing the size of their student population, minimizing social activities and paying for college tuition.

AAEC also has campuses that neighbor South Mountain and Paradise Valley community colleges, both in the Maricopa Community Colleges District.

Parents who enroll their children at AAEC high schools have hopes that their child can graduate from high school with an associates degree in hand.

“It’s possible they could get all their credits for a degree, but I think it would be challenging,” said Jo Wilson, dean of Instruction and director of MCC at Red Mountain, who has helped ease the transition for AAEC students attending MCC.
The goal, said AAEC Principal Linda LaFontain, is to prepare a young student for the competitive workforce that lies ahead.

“They are eager to get ahead in their education, and they feel they don’t fit in the box of a regular public school,” LaFontain said of the 141 students attending AAEC’s Red Mountain campus.

Most are successful. “A few are having difficulties acclimating to the rigors,” she said.

According to LaFontain, only 12 students in her school aren’t enrolled in community college courses.

The remaining 129 students pay for their own books, but enjoy tuition-free courses which earn them both high school and college credit.

But LaFontain adds, “It depends on whether or not they qualify and if they’re going to work hard.”

To qualify, an incoming AAEC student must first pass an assessment test, obtain parental permission to enroll at MCC, counsel with a MCC adviser and register as any other college student would.

MCC department chairs then approve the presence of the high school student in their respective departments.

The presence of such young students in college courses hasn’t been without difficulty, but Carmen V. Acosta, a MCC Spanish instructor who teaches AAEC students, admits that such difficulties are exceptions to the rule.

“It’s not a big thing – yet,” Acosta said. “Sometimes they need to be reminded that this is not high school. Some guys are still playing like they want to control the teacher.”

MCC student Katie Martoncik, 21, attends Martell’s class and noticed that the room is segregated, as college and high school students sit separately.

“They just talk out loud, laugh, basically interrupt the learning process,” Martoncik said of the high school students in her class. “You’re trying to listen and you can’t really hear over them.”

AAEC student Sarah Higgins, 15, also attends Martell’s class and doesn’t approve of the behavior of her classmates.

“They’re kind of immature. I’m sure I’m immature too, I don’t know. But they’re disrespectful to the teacher,” Higgins said, who observed that most of the unruly AAEC students are boys. “It shouldn’t be that way, there’s no reason for it.”

“The initial concern was that these students would possibly disrupt the classes and not be mature enough to excel properly,” said Dr. Rufus Glasper, Chancellor of the MCCD, who meets several times a year with the CEO of AAEC to help monitor the progress of students.

“They’re told up front what their expectations are in order to stay in the program,” Glasper said, who reiterated that AAEC’s disciplinary code is firm and that MCC instructors have a right to remove disruptive students from their class.

“If you have a large number of 15, 16 or 17-year-old students in one class…it changes the dynamics of that classroom,” Wilson said. “The content will not be altered, changed or watered-down because a 17 or 16-year-old is in the class. We make that very clear.”

Martell believes that the AAEC students in her class have been performing incredibly well academically despite some disciplinary concerns.

But she still isn’t sure of the role she plays.

“I’m not sure if our role has to be more than just an instructor,” Martell said, worried that parents of her young students may want to discuss their child’s progress with her.

Martell cited a federal law that prohibits any third party from discussing a college student’s academics with an instructor, even if the college student is a minor.
Glasper, unaware of any immediate conerns from MCC faculty, is hopeful that this model will become more widespread and sees MCC as a bridge between AAEC and a university.

Manessah Blackwell, 14, is an AAEC student who also views MCC as a stepping stone for the next level of her education.

“I don’t know what my career’s going to be right now, but if I get my first degree then it will be way easier to get my bachelor’s,” Blackwell said.

“They take an active part in making sure that what they’re doing is supporting their goals, whereas most kids just let us tell them what to do,” LaFontain said. “These kids are taking charge.”

Arizona Charter High School Facts

∙ There are 501 charter schools in Arizona.

∙ There are seven virtual schools.

∙ Academy of Math and Science and Academy of Tucson rank as the top charter schools in Arizona.

∙ A charter school is reviewed by the sponsoring board every five years.

∙ Charter schools were created through legislation in 1994.

∙ Charter schools cannot charge tuition

∙ Charter schools are funded by the state and receive money based on student attendance.

*source: Arizona Department of Education