Fredericksburg Independent School District houses a one-room school, smaller than most public education campuses in Texas. It lives just a mile down the road from Fredericksburg High School, tucked into an old FISD administrative building. Three staff members run the alternative campus as the district’s final bulwark against drop-outs. To them, the Gillespie County High School’s reach extends far beyond education. It paves a road to a diploma and a network of support for students who need more flexibility than traditionally required.
GCHS is not a disciplinary campus. Cayle Koennecke, counselor at GCHS, said the high school caters to students who need an alternate route to graduation. Some students contribute to their family’s income and need a program that can accommodate their work schedules. Others left school due to personal or health reasons, and now that they’ve returned, selfpaced education may be the only option to graduate on schedule. High schoolers transfer to the campus for a spectrum of reasons. Many of them wouldn’t graduate on time or at all without the program.
At last month’s FISD school board meeting, Koennecke reported that she has logged more than 500 student situations this year. She reviews transcripts and graduation requirements and helps with crisis response, behavioral modification and “lots of anxiety,” she said.
More than once Koennecke has counseled students who feel defeated. They are determined to drop out, stop coming, give up. More than once, she said, those students have left with a diploma in hand.
“I’ve had moments where I’ve had to tell kids, ‘I wish that you could see yourself the way I see you,’” she said. “‘I see your strengths. I see your potential. I see so much here, and I know you’re gonna do it, but we need to get through this step right here.’
“Later there is always a, ‘Thank you so much for not giving up on me.’” Principal Sarah Southard doesn’t give up easily either. She said that the job brings her back to her athletic career, before she worked in education.
“We get to coach them,” she said. “It’s very rewarding for me and I didn’t realize how much I had missed that part of coaching until I got into this role. We get to be kind of like their life coach.”
Southard coaches students to engage with their passions and step into relevant career paths. Rather than pre-planning field trips, GCHS uses excursion funding to take any student anywhere that piques an interest in them, as long as it’s within driving distance. For example, if they can tell a student likes to work on their truck, they will encourage them to attend an auto exhibition. Over the years, Southard said, they’ve taken students to tour cosmetology schools, trade schools, culinary institutes and university campuses. These future goals help motivate the students to finish their diploma.
The diploma is earned through Imagine Edgenuity, an online accredited curriculum. Students must show up to school for four consecutive hours a day, but they can move through courses at their own pace. They need 22 credits to graduate. For help, they have access to live online tutors or an FISD teacher, Mike Myers.
“They often tell me I’m teacher of the year at GCHS,” Myers said. “I’m the only teacher here. I win it every year.”
Southard convinced Myers to come back to teaching in the fruit section of H-E-B. Years before, he had stepped back from his position as Social Studies chair at FHS right as he approached his 30th year in the district. He needed a break after decades of late-night lesson planning, he said. He spent the next three years driving school buses in semi-retirement.
Myers’ return to the classroom has been unique. As the school’s only teacher, he keeps track of every student’s progress towards their diploma. He holds weekly sessions with them to discuss where they’re at, what they need and how they can get there. He knows when each student typically arrives on campus. If he doesn’t see them by their usual time, he calls. Occasionally, he drives to pick them up at work or home. A core part of his job is motivation and emotional support, he said.
When a need appears, Myers, Southard and Koennecke jump to fill it. Southard said they have helped students practice how to talk on the phone, apply for scholarships and budget for financial independence. Because many students work, this year a local accountant, Jake Whittington, came to the school to help them file their taxes. Philanthropic Educational Organization members have come to do mock interviews as well. Students feel so supported at the school that they often return after graduation for further advice and mentorship, Koennecke said.
The return on their investment is priceless. At the latest school board meeting, Koennecke announced that 100% of the GCHS students are projected to meet state requirements for college, career or military readiness this year. Nearly all of them will graduate by this month or return in the fall. She credited the success to the culture she and her fellow staff have built at the school.
“We meet kids where they are,” Koennecke said. “Not where we want them to be, but where they are. And we’re willing to sit with them, we are their biggest champion, we are going to fight for them and we are going to get them to the finish line.”
Though students are done with school whenever they finish their credits, they can return to walk the stage at the year’s close. Their diploma is far more than an academic milestone–it shows that they have found the strength to overcome the past and invest in the future. Koennecke and Southard said that it is rare that the three of them walk away from graduation day with dry eyes.
“It’s because this place really does matter to us,” Myers said. “This is not just a job for us.”
