EAST LIVERPOOL — The Kiln Academy teachers Tim Connor, Amy Montgomery and Amy Leonard shared feedback from some of the Kiln students during Thursday’s school board meeting and provided the board members with information on how The Kiln is making a difference for some East Liverpool students.

The teachers surveyed their students, asking them what they like about the Kiln, what about the Kiln has helped them grow as an individual and what they might change in the future about the Kiln.

“Our students have said they appreciate the self-paced nature of the Kiln,” Montgomery said. “They like the fewer transitions and smaller class sizes. There are less distractions and they are able to focus on their studies better. They also like the flexibility of the Kiln.”

Connor read some of the survey responses to the board.

One student, a senior, said what she liked about the program was being able to work at her own pace while catching up on her credits to graduate on time.

Another student also said what he liked best was being able to do his work at his own pace.

Another student, a senior, said what she liked best was that she didn’t have any anxiety of being around all the kids at the high school and being in a calm environment.”

Connor noted that they do try to make the Kiln a calm environment due to some of the students having anxiety depression or other sorts of things that make them kind of nervous.

One student said the Kiln has helped her be more successful in school by helping her go from straight Fs to straight As, and she has changed as a person who is not depressed anymore and doesn’t have anxiety.

A Kiln student who is in the automotive program said he has changed since joining the Kiln. Before he was always in and out of trouble and in fights, always being suspended, but the Kiln helped him stay away from that trouble and that the Kiln is more like a family than a classroom.

Another student said the Kiln has helped him be more successful in school because he has improved his grades, his attendance and his behavior.

Connor told the board, the Kiln Academy’s mission statement says that the academy strives to be an inclusive, creative, supportive learning environment, empowering students with diverse needs to thrive academically, emotionally and socially.

The academy offers a hybrid online/in classroom learning experience with personalized educational experiences and practices in needed life skills.

Connor noted that the Kiln, which started a few years ago with only a handful of students, now has almost 60 students in the program.

Leonard discussed the pillars of the academy which include academics, social emotional learning and community involvement

Leonard said that those three things together make up what they do at the Kiln Academy, and they believe that the incorporation of academics, social emotional learning and community involvement, is how they empower the students to reach their full potential.

Montgomery discussed the academics program saying the students are fully online where they work through a series of modules and videos which make up their lessons and then test before moving on.

“Being online offers a lot of flexibility with the structure of our program. We have students that our with us, we call them our in-person students, they are online, but they are onsite,” she said.

The students come into Kiln’s three classrooms located at Westgate where they do their work with support from the teachers.

Some of the students, a smaller number, are fully online from home and are followed with weekly check-ins by the teachers who make themselves available daily and on weekends. Then they have the hybrid model, which is the most popular choice in which students come into the Kiln classroom for part of the day and then they go out and participate in career tech and classes. According to Montgomery, this is a popular option for the students who want to participate in some of the electives or classes not offered in the Kiln.

Connor said the academy has approximately eight students participating in career tech classes in automotive technology, cosmetology, criminal justice and visual design and imaging.

“The students really enjoy that they can spend part of their day in the Kiln with us and finish their day out in career tech or vice versa,” Conner said. “We really do push the career tech, because for these kids, it seems like it would be a really good fit for them, so we try to push them into the career tech program.

The three teachers showed photos of the classrooms and invited board members to see the classrooms and to stop in when students were there to see how it works and benefits the students.

The Kiln also works with senior recovery students who need to make up credits to graduate.

Leonard spoke on the social emotional learning aspects and how they try to facilitate the learning and develop communication skills. She also noted that most of the students struggle with social emotional regulation. She said by placing importance on social emotional learning they have seen an increase in the students’ ability to regulate their own emotions and resilience building.

The students participate in STEM lessons which require teamwork and communication to complete and also have a motivational speaker come in regular to talk to them with a focus on building character, establishing confidence and instilling hope.

Connor spoke on the students’ community involvement which helps them develop a sense of personal responsibility, sense of purpose, a connection to the community and provides them the opportunity to be a positive change in the community, gain community service hours and disconnect from technology in an online program.

For three years, the Kiln students have been volunteering at the Salvation Army. The students walk to the agency from class. During the walk the teachers teach them about the history of the area, instilling a sense of pride in their community.

The students help the agency with unloading food from trucks and organizing distribution in the pantry and help box the agency’s Thanksgiving boxes which are handed out to needy families.

Connor noted that the volunteer work also is training for good skills for a job in high school or after since a lot of the work done at the Salvation Army by the students is the same type of work done in a grocery store or something like that.

Sometimes after volunteering the students will go with the teachers to see sites around the city or to the Hot Dog Shoppe or Dairy Queen for lunch and discussions.

The students also help with school clean up and recycling projects.

Students typically come into the Kiln after being recommended by the administration, but there are some students who come in by requesting it.

kgarabrandt@mojonews.com