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CrossRoads gets new look, attitude Mail Tribune / Bob Pennell Jerry Dodgins does pre-painting work on Community Works' CrossRoads alternative school Monday. Students returning Sept. 10 will find not only new paint but a new principal and a more academic attitude. Alternative school's new principal wants to strengthen core values By JONEL ALECCIA The two cozy couches had to go, says Marlene Mish, new principal at CrossRoads, a Medford alternative high school. In their place are iron benches: attractive, practical and definitely not conducive to sneaking a few winks between classes. "We don't sleep at school," says Mish, 56, whose arrival this summer coincides with a new form and philosophy at the Earhart Street site. When the 100 to 150 students enrolled at CrossRoads return Sept. 10, they'll find an environment aimed at boosting respect for education and for themselves, say Mish and Stephanie Atkinson, program manager. Bright paint, new carpet, cutting-edge computers and a more academic attitude will be among the most noticeable shifts for students who turn to CrossRoads when public school doesn't work out. Oh, and it will be pretty, too, says Mish. "We're trying to make a statement here," says the former teacher and counselor at Beverly Hills (Calif.) High School. "The outward beauty we're trying to make matches the inner beauty of the students. "These physical changes are the manifestation of a refocusing on the core values of what we are here for," she adds. Renovating the alternative school was an immediate priority for Mish and Atkinson, who assumed new positions with the program this summer. The old CrossRoads was functional but funky, and it sometimes engendered attitudes to match. "Kids, they know when a place is full of hand-me-downs," says Jennifer Durst, marketing and volunteer coordinator for Community Works, a Medford social service agency that runs the school. Worn couches, scarred tables and wobbly chairs are piled behind the school, no longer in use. "I wanted it to be different, now!" jokes Atkinson, who, like Mish, spent many years in the public school system and hopes to bring mainstream standards into the alternative programs. Crucial to creating the change has been an innovative agreement with landlord Ron Brenneman, who agreed to foot the $100,000 bill for renovations. CrossRoads will repay the costs over five years in a renegotiated lease, Atkinson says. Without Brenneman's cooperation, the project would have required intense fund-raising and endless phases, she adds. CrossRoads contracts with several area school districts, including Central Point, Phoenix-Talent, Ashland and Rogue River, to provide education services for students ages 14 to 17. State payments to those districts are transferred to CrossRoads according to a complex formula that provides more funding for certain students, such as disabled teens and teen parents. CrossRoads' curriculum includes programs for drug- and alcohol-addicted teens and teen parents and offers services that include a health clinic and a childcare center. Students come to the school for a range of reasons, says Mish. But many simply need the structure and focus of smaller classes and more individualized attention. "Not everybody is suitable for or successful in mainstream schools," she says. That doesn't mean they won't be successful in life, however. Mish has instituted a college/career center in the renovated school, the better to inspire hopes for the future. "The whole thing about that is to expose them to options," she says. "I can tell them: 'Yes, you can'." Shifting from an urban public high school of 2,200 students to a rural alternative school of less than 200 is a big move, says Mish. After visiting with CrossRoads students, however, she says the issues they're grappling with are the same issues faced by kids everywhere: identity, support, love. "Demographics change; adolescence does not change," she says. "I saw nothing here that I didn't see in Beverly Hills." Reach reporter JoNel Aleccia at 776-4465, or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.