TORRINGTON – Monday morning Lindsay Maxey, Principal of Platte River School (PRS), spoke to the Telegram about what PRS looks like for staff and students this year.  

The main thing Maxey shared was how PRS looks different than other schools in the district. They are doing all of the programs we have heard of from the other schools this year, things like Professional Learning Communities, Leader in Me, and Multi-Tiered System of Support, just on a smaller scale. This can be more difficult because although they have less students, this means their success plans can more specific. This can also be difficult because they have a total of four staff members to care for each student. 

PRS also has a number of other things which are unique to the school itself. 

When it comes to going to school at PRS, students do need to apply. They also need community, teacher, and a counselor recommendation. Then, they go through an interview. The school is not easier, they are more flexible. This is to meet each student’s need whether it be academic needs, medical needs, social and emotional needs, or any other kind. The school is set up as an alternative school for this reason. It is a more specific type of education. 

Otherwise, their days, learning, and staff look different as well. 

To start, Maxey chose to not report scores as she believes scores do not properly measure the kids. She believes in growth and effort more than anything. With as few students as they have, one score can give an inaccurate representation of the growth her students have made. As an alternative, the PRS staff use a platform called Edmentum Courseware and Exact Path which better represents the progress of the students. 

“So, I don’t lean heavily on test scores because of the simple fact that they are skewed in regard to like, for example, if you’re looking at my group of 9th graders that I had last year, only had four, so one test score can completely skew the results. We focus on growth of seeing where the kids are and making sure that they grow. And so, we actually use a platform called Edmentum Courseware and Exact Path and so we have a diagnostic in there that, we can see where they’re at the beginning of the year, we test them again in the winter, we test them again in the spring. So, we want to see that they are growing throughout that and that is our goal as a school. Yes, tests are important, however, that’s not what defines a kid,” Maxey said. 

She knows the students grow in more places than academically and she likes to focus on the other perspectives as well. She likes to see the students develop socially and emotionally as well. She finds all types of growth to be valuable. 

For this reason, she and her staff think of each day as a fresh start. Just because the previous day may have been rough, it doesn’t mean the rest of the week should be. They never hold a previous day against a student. What is important is if they try to have a better day the next day. 

She believes she has the best kids and staff, even the entirety of Goshen County has the best kids. She’s very passionate about their education and growth. She calls all of the kids “her kids” because they are so valuable to her. She wishes she could show each student their potential and it hurts her to know, not all kids can see it. 

“There are times where it can be stressful because you want what’s best for every kid. And sometimes they don’t see their own potential and so I’m trying to get them to see their own potential, that’s hard part and that’s the heartbreaking part; Because you want to say, ‘do you realize how awesome you are’ and that’s why I look at them thinking, if you only could see what I could see, you would see how awesome you are,” Maxey shared. 

She thinks of her school as a family. Her staff are protective moms over the students. They spend hours a day with these kids making sure their needs are met. They push to make sure these students are doing their best, but they also work to make sure they are giving the students their bests. 

Maxey not only prioritizes care of her students, but also her staff. She tries to make sure her staff take time for themselves. They spend so much time trying to better themselves and work harder for the students. This can be exhausting. They are always overanalyzing themselves. For this reason, she does not call them in over the summer because she does believe her staff need the time to be their best selves for the next year. She believes in sick days and mental health days for both staff and students because she knows how exhausting both sides can be. She said if you don’t care for yourself, you aren’t any good to anyone. 

A traditional high school day has 8 classes. This can be overwhelming for many and for a number of reasons. At PRS, the students are capable of focusing on just a couple at a time and then moving on to a couple different ones. They are learning the same topics and the same number of things in each topic, they are just paced and rearranged differently to better suit individual needs. 

Even with this set up, this does not mean the students do not get to enjoy other things traditional students do. 

The students are capable of being enrolled in Eastern Wyoming College (EWC) courses just like the other traditional high school students. They may even split their time between PRS, Torrington High School, Southeast, Lingle-Fort Larmaie and EWC contingent on their previously enrolled school. They are just required to fulfill one of the three pathways: CTE, dual college classes, or CO-OP.

The PRS students are heavily encouraged to get involved in electives, clubs, and other activities the district offers. They can take woods, business, foods, arts, band, choir, and other electives. The only one of those they do not take at THS is health science because two staff members at PRS are qualified to teach the course. Maxey understands those are where some students really thrive, and she is happy they have the opportunity to still be involved in electives. 

PRS does not frequently accept freshman students because the staff want to encourage the students to get the traditional high school experience. They may end up liking it. However, if the case is different, they have other opportunities in place so the students will still get to do the fun things. 

On the opposite side, PRS also offers resources to students within the county outside of PRS. If a student needs more help but are not enrolled at PRS, they are still welcome to receive assistance with school. She likes to have the unity available for all the schools in the district. 

One very important thing Maxey wanted to note is PRS is not like other alternative schools. It is more of a choice school than an “alternative” school. The students choose to go there, they are never mandated. This is why they have the application process. They operate under different rules, this is what makes them alternative. It is an alternative to traditional school, not an alternative placement education. 

Maxey gave high praise for her staff members, for staff through the district, and for superintendent Ryan Kramer. She said her staff work very hard, harder than they are given credit for. She knows there will be a lot of progress, some of it will take time, but there are a number of people working incredibly hard to help students in the county to grow and working to grow themselves. 

Maxey loves what she does, and she finds it very rewarding. She’s passionate about the progression of her student’s learning and she’s very excited to see how well her students do this year and in the future. She is incredibly grateful for the support of the superintendent, Kramer, school board trustees, district social workers, district psychologist, district work-based learning coordinator and school counselors. Although these are just a few of the individuals not in the building daily, they help PRS students be successful. 

“We make a great team, and we could not do it without them,” Maxey stated.