MOULTRIE, Ga. — Coastal Plains Education Charter High School is more than just a place to obtain a high school diploma. It’s a place for students who need individual support in and outside the classrooms.

Coastal Plains Education Charter High School faculty and staff call the evening school “Moultrie’s Best-Kept Secret.” The charter operates an evening school at Colquitt County High School that currently serves 181 students from 13 area counties.

Co-Directors Renee Gay and Chad Horne alternate managing the school during the week. Gay told The Observer Thursday that Coastal Plains students fit into three categories.

“[Either] they need to work during the day because they’re helping to support [their] families. They have families of their own already and need to be at home during the day and then can come to school at night when there’s somebody else home to babysit. Or a lot of it nowadays, especially after COVID has just been [that] they can’t deal with the hectic environment of a day school,” Gay explained.

Some students also opt for Coastal Plains to complete their education if they only need a few credits to graduate. This course of study prevents them from having to spend a full day and academic year in day school.

The course lessons are primarily taught through blended learning, which combines a self-paced virtual and face-to-face learning environment for students.

She said, “The teachers are all certified [and] highly qualified according to the state, and they are right there to help the students with what they need.”

Students can also enroll in different education levels such as gifted, special education, dual enrollment or career academies. They can access a wide support staff including paraprofessionals, social workers, a career specialist, a work-based learning coordinator and teachers of students with disabilities.

“We try to meet their needs mentally, emotionally and educationally. We are here for the whole child. The smaller setting and individual attention is a positive for a lot of our students,” explained Lisa Johnson and Tracey Kelshaw, two Coastal Plains staff members.

Each student is paired with a mentor and meets with them weekly to discuss how they are feeling personally and academically. The Moultrie site has approximately five mentors who sit in the hallway available to students at all times.

The mentor also meets with the student’s parents if the student is under 18 years old and conducts at-home check-in’s if a student’s attendance decreases.

“The school opened my eyes to how many students we have that need this option of school and how much there is a need for this in Colquitt County,” Joy Carnes, the mentor coordinator, said.

The mentor acts as a guide along with the student’s teachers to create a graduation plan while focusing on the student’s emotional and social development.

Gay said the students look forward to the school’s Friendsgiving potluck, which is a staff-funded Thanksgiving celebration. The staff uses the celebration as an opportunity to teach the students social skills and manners like how to set the table.

“Some of these kids have never eaten like that before. We didn’t realize that until the first year we did it. We literally had kids go back three or four times,” Gay said.

Students are also offered incentives to earn gift cards for consistent attendance, course completions and improved end-of-course test results.

These services are threatened by a state law, Senate Bill 153, which was signed last year. The law will abolish the school’s charter and strip its state funding in June 2023.

This will destroy several students’ chances of earning a high school diploma through the charter school, school officials said.

“We would be devastated if we didn’t have it,” Gay said. “We would because we know how much impact we made on student’s lives. Without Coastal [Plains] here, in our county, our graduation rate would be a lot lower. We need kids to graduate, but they need to graduate with a diploma that means something. They don’t need to just graduate.”

To learn more about Coastal Plains Education Charter High School, please refer to www.coastalplainscharter.org.