Interagency Academy gives students extra support

The Interagency Academy is Seattle’s biggest secret: an alternative, nurturing public high school for students who are dealing with hard life issues and need extra support. 

The 400 students who attend the school enjoy smaller class sizes, personalized learning plans, attention from teachers and more flexibility with classes and time schedules. 

The school partners with community-based organizations to provide additional support for students, such as chemical dependency, mental health treatment, probation officers and case managers.

The students who attend are typical teenagers, but many struggle. Students are more likely to be eligible for free/reduced lunch and special education services. They are also more prone to dropping out of high school. Many deal with unstable housing, gang concerns, pregnancy, incarceration, drug addiction, prior school expulsion and learning disabilities.      

For many students, the school is a safety net — their last chance to succeed in high school. But for other students, it’s a learning environment that is more supportive and flexible than traditional high schools. Interagency is an opportunity for all of them to retrieve credits, bring up grades and make it to graduation.

In June, 100 students graduated, a big achievement for the school.  

Learning at Interagency

Interagency teacher Debbie Thiessen said that students stay as needed; many enroll for only a short period of time.

“Often, we’ll get kids who come in for a variety of reasons, and once they get caught up on their credits, they’ll go back to their regular school,” she explained. “Maybe they’ve been expelled or they’re coming back from the criminal justice system, and so [they] will spend some time with us.”

Additionally, making up credits can be easier for students given that classes are taught in a variety of formats.

“We have a blended learning program,” Thiessen said. “Language arts and math are all teacher-taught classes, and then the other classes are online classes.”

However, online classes are not typically successful, according to Interagency teachers. For this reason, students must be in the classroom to take the online classes.

Additionally, the school provides continued academic support. 

“We have a lot of kids who need extra help in math and reading, so we have a lot of support for those students,” Thiessen said. 

The GED is also offered as an alternative to the high school diploma. 

Building relationships

Disciplinary problems do happen, but Thiessen said that because the school builds personal relationships with each student, behavior issues tend to be on a lower frequency.

“We believe that a lot of our kids come to us because they had a negative experience with their school, authority and adults in a lot of ways,” Thiessen said. “Our goal is to first build a relationship and let them know that we care about them as people.”

Moreover, Thiessen said that a lot of the students have personal struggles outside of school; therefore, it’s paramount to help them with their non-education-related issues, as well.

“We know that if we can’t help them take care of those struggles, we can’t help them be successful at school,” she said. “It’s essential that we build strong relationships with the kids and find ways to help them inside and outside of school.”

Interagency Academy’s additional leg up over traditional high schools is comprised of its classroom statistics. The student-to-teacher ratio is 12-to-1, according to U.S. News and World Report. This creates a lot of individual attention.

How Interagency works

Assistant principal Melissa Rysemus explained how students get connected with the school.

“The students have an intake process on Thursdays, and they get an overview of the school,” Rysemus said. “During that time, we try to get to know them and where they’ve been successful so we can build on that. We want to know if there are barriers, such as housing or various learning styles or whatever the need, so we can address it.”

She continued, “When they come in, we ask them what their goal is. Do they want to get back into the school they were at? Some students want to stay.” 

The student is then placed at one of the 12 sites across the city, depending on their particular needs. Different sites have unique offerings. 

Students usually have one to four classes per day, Rysemus said. However, there is no average amount of time spent in the classroom. It will vary on what is happening in their lives.

The community partners at the various sites include the City of Seattle, King County International Airport, King County Youth Service Center, University District Youth Center, Youngstown Cultural Art Center and YouthCare.

Aside from educational material, some students must take a behavioral-skills class that Interagency offers. These are students who have been recommended by someone, such as a school principal, that they take the class before they come back to school, for instance. 

“We also offer a class on personal growth — some students have it as a requirement,” Rysemus said. “That class teaches life skills, with a specific curriculum on negotiation and having conversations to help resolve conflict. We also teach an advisory class, where we focus on non-cognitive variables for success, such as positive self-concept and long-term goals over immediate needs.”

Thiessen appreciates Interagency’s approach of serving the students’ life needs along with their academic ones. 

“We’ve had a new principal, and she worked really hard to connect us to drug and alcohol counseling and a teen health clinic,” she said. “Being able to have quick access to drug and alcohol services helps kids if they lose housing. And maybe it’s not just them that lose the housing — maybe it’s the whole family.” 

Furthermore, “It’s hard to focus on education when you’re not eating or you’re sleeping in the car,” she said.

Thiessen believes that focusing on improving the issues that are happening in students’ lives — not just on the academics — can be the key to improving the entire education system. 

Shattering stigma

Thiessen pointed out the stigma surrounding the Interagency Academy: “The kids we work with are not the bad kids. We have kids with struggles, but our kids are amazing, and they are able to bounce back from heartbreak and tragedy. And they keep coming back. They keep working, and they try really hard to do the right thing.

“It’s a place where everyone can come and graduate and do better,” Thiessen said.

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