Former sheriff helps ease transition to high school

By Danielle Strenke
Coming into high school as a freshman can be a struggle for any student. For students who faced challenges in eighth grade, the added pressures of ninth grade can lead to academic setbacks that may take years to overcome.
The North Branch School District, along with several other districts in the state, recognized the need for a specific program targeting these students, who may have otherwise faced increased challenges, both academically and behaviorally.
This year, the district implemented the high school transition program for ninth grade students. The class is designed for incoming freshmen who were referred after struggling as eighth graders.
For some, the struggles were academic, and they failed one or more classes in eighth grade. For others, the struggles were finding appropriate behavior in school.
All of the students for the program were referred by teachers, administrators and counselors.
As the program was being developed, NBHS sheriff liaison Jon Sarago heard about it and was interested. ìIt sounded like an innovative, progressive program,î he said.
At the time, Sarago was in his 17th year as a sheriff for Chisago County. He was also serving as the schoolís liaison officer and had taught the D.A.R.E. program at the middle school.
Sarago was also working toward his masters degree in special education, thinking he would move into the teaching field sometime after it was completed. When the teaching position opened for the high school transition program, he decided to make a career change now.
ìIt was a great opportunity to get my foot in the door,î Sarago said.
Now, Sarago teaches five different groups of freshmen in daily classes, focusing on self-enrichment skills and maintaining progress in all academic areas of high school.
Each class has an enrollment of about ten students, so for the one hour a day that the freshmen are in Saragoís class, they can receive concentrated one-on-one instruction. It also prevents them from hiding any academic problems they may be having, Sarago said.
The curriculum of the class is varied, including unit topics such as work readiness skills.
Sarago said the emphasis is on improving the studentsí success in school and the community.
He said he is teaching the students that in order to achieve certain goals after high school, they need to use self-empowerment to get there.
If students are falling behind as freshmen, it is crucial to get them back on track, he said. ìNinth grade is so important because the core classes are required for graduation standards,î he said.
It is also important for any students who may want to take part in the on-the-job-training program to be successful in ninth grade, because qualifying for the program is based on ninth grade academic results.
Sarago said it is a unique program, where he can offer topics and projects that are atypical of most ninth grade classes. ìThey are enjoying it so far because itís not routine,î he said.
Each of the kids came into the class for different reasons, but they also share some of the same challenges. ìThey all have organizational problems,î Sarago said. ìThey want to do well but they struggle to find out how to do it.î He said many of them fall behind because they have difficulty with a class or assignment and donít know how to ask for help.
Other students are there to work on behavioral issues as well. ìThe program is teaching them to be creative thinkers and find out what will make them successful in all areas of life, in school and the workplace,î he said.
Sarago said his career as a sheriff prepared him for dealing with the unique challenges and problems of each of the kids and their diverse backgrounds. ìI can relate to the kids and what they bring with them, and they appreciate that Iíve been a part of the community outside of the classroom.î
While the freshmen in the program have one class a day with Sarago, the rest of their schedules are the same as any other ninth grader.
Each trimester, one group of the students in the program attend a team-taught science class. Here, the students are put into one of Tom OíHernís regular science classes and Sarago works with them during the class. ìWeíre trying to get the ones who need it some extra science help,î Sarago said.
Because one of the goals is to help the students see that being a success in school is a requirement for being successful in the workplace, Sarago hopes to use some of his business contacts to link the classroom work to the community.
ìIíd like to take field trips into the business community to give them a better vision of what they need to do to achieve a job and career,î Sarago said.
He hopes the program will continue, because it will be too early to determine the success of it after the first year. ìWe look at academic success as how many are here and graduating in three years,î he said.

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