PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Eagle Educational Academy held an open house to showcase the school and how it supports students.

 

The public alternative school serves students from Grades 6 through 12 who benefit from more individualized support.

 

"We're for students who need more support. So we've got a higher staff-to-student ratio, we have a lot more stuff built in with SEL [social emotional learning]. We're able to do a lot of these community partnerships to get kids those experiences," said Principal Ryan Fuller.

 

Fuller has been with the school for six years, and has been the principal for four. He believes his school is critical in helping its 40 students learn and grow. 

 

"Having a place to be successful is big for everybody, and I think having a place where you can get the support that you need is big, and it feels good. Every kid wants to do right," he said. "Every kid comes to school and wants to do well, but it's not always easy, and a 500-person building isn't really necessarily going to be the place for that to happen. So sometimes you just need a smaller space to do that, and more relationships, more adults that you can kind of work with."

 

Students have time dedicated in the afternoons with organizations that partner with the school, like the Berkshire Museum, the Berkshire Family YMCA, and 18 Degrees, for project-based learning and social emotional learning.

 

"They're just awesome to work with, like the cool part about Pittsfield and where we are is every time we reach out to someone, we are continually finding out about new groups who are doing stuff," said Fuller. "And every time we reach out, the overwhelming majority want to do stuff ... 'Yeah, we love it. Let's do this.'"

 

The school also works with UpSide413, formerly Berkshire County Regional Housing Authority, which provides mediation services and teaches students how to navigate conflicts. 

 

"If there are students who are having some difficulties communicating with one another, so they're maybe doing a lot of yelling, maybe it's gotten physical, the schools will ask me to try to sit with them and do mediations, to sort of help them through the process," said Andrea Sholler, a coordinator with UpSide413's Dispute Resolution Center.

 

High school science teacher George Quadrino has been at Eagle Academy for two years and thinks the small classroom size is great.

 

"It's nice to have a small group and to be able to really get to work with the kids individually. Whereas if you got a class of 30, that's a little harder to do," he said.

 

"I think a lot of the kids here really benefit from it. They were maybe struggling a little bit in a big class like that, where here they get the individualized attention. And I'm seeing, especially my second year here, where I've had these kids before, I'm really seeing all of them begin to really thrive."

 

Quadrino was also involved in starting the Dungeons and Dragons Club, helping students foster communication and teamwork skills in a fun manner. 

 

Kyle Kasala, the middle school science and social studies teacher, has been at Eagle for seven years and also credits the small classrooms for the growth he's seen in students as well the individual help and connections.

 

"I think it's very personalized. I think you get to know the kids on a personal level more than you would at any other school. We have 12 kids, and we get to know them inside and out, they get to know us inside and out. You have conversations with them, not only about school, but just about life, things like that," he said.

 

"I think that just the relationship aspect is the most important. I think that that's why the people that are here, like working here. It's to build relationships. And to build basically relationships for kids, for life, like, for instance, I always say a lot of the kids here, they turn it around in years. It's not always days or months, it's a lot of times it's years. I've gotten to see kids go from the middle school up to the high school and just grow and become really successful."

 

Parent Sara Armstrong is the head of the PTO at the academy and said her son has benefitted from being in the school.

 

"You've got such an awesome staff-to-student ratio that it allows these kids to flourish when they may not in a regular school setting. And so for my son, he may not like coming to school every day, but it has been phenomenal for him and his growth," she said.

 

The Eagle Education Academy is part of the Pittsfield Public Schools and is located at 73 Eagle St.