ALSO APPEARS IN The Communicator, Volume XXIV Edition 3
This is a further edited version of the article that appeared in the January 20, 2010 print addition. The print staff would like to clarify that Option Magnet students are not home-schooled students. They are also not Community High School students. We apologize for any confusion.
Junior Cathlin Sullivan attends only one class at Community High, but she is not simply dual-enrolled. She attends classes at Pioneer, but would have to get a guest pass if she wanted to go to a school dance. She takes online classes at home, but she isn’t homeschooled.
Students at Huron and Pioneer, not just Community, can participate in the options magnet program.
Sullivan is in the Options Magnet, a Community High-based program for high-school students who want to take at least half of their classes in a “non-traditional format,” meaning community resources or online. They receive an AAPS diploma at the end of their four years, but are able to create a personalized education plan.
Susette Jaquette, Options Magnet coordinator, explains that the program stemmed from Community Resource Extension, but “it became the Options program, because no one knew what CRE stood for.”
The Options Magnet allows students to take core classes in the Ann Arbor Public Schools, but have more control over their educational experience. Options students have gained in numbers over the years, now totaling in 36 students.
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