Liberty Academy
Referral Process for Fall 2020
Who is referred to LA and why?
Students may seek enrollment at Liberty Academy because something isn't working for them at their home school. To generalize, this often shows up in the area of attendance, behavior, or grades. While we certainly work on all those areas, we also focus on the whole child--meaning, we try to help students become the best version of themselves.
Liberty Academy will help students:
- have empathy, self-awareness, and self-control.
- be knowledgeable about their strengths, talents, interests, and career aspirations.
- be a contributing member of the school and community.
- develop skills that will help them be successful regardless of college/career path.
- develop skills that help manage their time which will be necessary for any college or career option.
Take a Virtual Tour of Liberty Academy!
Overview of Learning
One of the first things most people notice about the environment at Liberty Academy is the ease with which people interact with each other. Students and staff are part of the same community and share the same space. Adults better fill the roles of mentor, guide, and academic life coach than of authority figure, subject based teacher, or title holder. LA students have a unique opportunity to come back to school, reinvest in themselves, and explore all the things they may dream of being. There is a shared belief among staff that they owe it to every student to ensure that their school environment feels more like the world outside of school (rich, authentic, colorful, experience and agency based). LA was intentionally designed for this purpose. The result is a one of a kind school community that helps students explore, connect, grow, prepare, and heal.
All students are enrolled in a math, PE, English, and at least one or more online classes based on academic need, graduation status, and/or personalized credit profile. The remaining four credit-bearing courses are typically both personalized and customized around the learning menus each student works with their advisor to create every six weeks. At times, students may work with their advisors to integrate full classes while at other times they may use our Liberty Academy "design challenge" course that gives them the ability to explore standards and concepts from larger fields of study rather than traditional chapters, units, and classrooms. The flexibility of this framework allows students the opportunity to fully own their processes of exploration, learning, and mastery so that they may better understand who they are, where they eventually want to go, and how best to get there.
Daily Schedule
Check-in with advisor and set goals for day
PE: Find or start a preferred activity to engage, be social, and be off technology
Breakfast (grab and go) is served in cafeteria
School-wide Circle: Daily schedule/logistics, reminders, whole school instruction/feedback, celebrations, etc.
Math
Advisory
Lunch
Experience-Based Learning: Looks different for each student (Connect courses into a learning experience, workshops, field trips, online classes, practicing your craft, etc.)
FAQ
- Where is Liberty Academy? LA is in what was once known as the Blackberry buildings adjacent to the Liberty Community Center. There is still a Montessori School (not affiliated with LPS) on campus.
- What about transportation? Students ride their routed bus to the home high school. A shuttle brings them from the high school to LA and back to the high school at the end of the day.
- What are the school hours? Due to the shuttle transportation needs, our school hours are 8:20-2:50.
- Do I still need the required 25.5 credits to graduate? Yes, this is per Board policy.
- What does breakfast/lunch look like? LA has a cafeteria with limited hot, cold, and a la carte choices.
- Can I attend LA for a part day? Typically, it is best that the first semester at LA is a full day so one can fully understand how the school works. After the first semester, this is determined on a case by case basis (ex. Career Center). We have limited seats available, so we want to capitalize on the impact we can offer. The school community is an important component of our success, so being at school all day helps foster that belonging.
- What if I'm really behind on credits? During the school day, students have an opportunity to earn 4 credits each semester. For students who need more than that, we currently use an online platform for credit recovery.
- How many students attend LA? LA has approximately 90 students (from LHS/LN). Additionally, LA houses two other alternative classroom settings for LPS, but their programming is different and separate from the Academy structure.
- What about things like sports, Homecoming, and graduation? Students are still eligible to participate in extra-curricular activities that do not require a particular class for attendance. Really, students are still Bluejays and Eagles, and they can attend activities or participate in sports as students of their home high school. Think of Liberty Academy as a program offered by the high schools--it just happens to be off campus. And, students get the same diploma and walk the big stage with the rest of the Bluejays and Eagles!
- Field Trips: As exploration and off-site experiences are central to the programming, it is imperative that families are willing to give permission for the students to attend all trips that are suggested for each individual student.
- Nurse: LA utilizes the nurse at Liberty Middle School.
Check us out!
Email: melissa.norris@lps53.org
Website: www.lps53.org/la
Location: 1115 Blackberry Drive, Liberty, MO, USA
Phone: (816)736-5470
Facebook: facebook.com/libertyacademy
Twitter: @LibAcademy