Aurora Alternative High School, The Phoenix, 1996, Page 9

Description:	The roles of Chuck Hollowayand Dr. Johm Coomer in thedevelopment of AuroraAlternative School are ofprofound importance. Theirleadership, motivation, andconcern have supported allinvolved wiht the school andeven provided some with asecond chance.Dr Coomer visits the Aurora Alternative School during its first annualOpen House on February 21st■Dr John Coomer Says...Dr. John Coomer has had a long and significant history in public education. He has been a superintendentfor a total of 20 years. Before pursuing a superintendent position he has had experience as a high school principal, assistant principal, and a teacher. He had been a superintendent in Greencastle, Tipton, and Crawfordsville,before coming here to Monroe County.Dr. Coomer attended Indiana University, so he was familiar with Monroe County. He liked the community here and thought that Bloomington would be a nice place to live. He also believed that the schools here hada lot of potential.He had been involved with the development of an Alternative school before in Crawfordsville. Heobserved that some kids functioned better there, and that it seemed like the right thing to do. He believes that theschools should be patterned to fit the needs of youth. There had been much talk about the start of an Alternativeschool in Bloomington. So much in fact, that the idea seemed like a natural solution.The majority of the feedback for the idea for beginning an Alternative school was positive. There weresome negative feelings, but they were mostly just conflicting opinions on how it should be organized. Theydecided to start the Alternative school for high school students exclusively. Others thought they should includemiddle school, but John thought, “You have to start some way, so do the best you can. You find a good place tostart, and the rest will come later.”Good Call Dr. Coomer!Dr. Coomer says he feels great about the progress of the school so far. He has no doubt that the schoolwill either have to expand or move within the next year. When the opportunity of using the house came up theydecided to jump on it. Unfortunately, it hasn’t really been large enough. Plans are in the talking stage of addingon lower grades and increasing enrollment. Dr. Coomer believes that the school will continue to grow in thefuture, and they will try to fit in more people since there is a great demand for spaces.
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-aurora/id/117
Collection:	Aurora Alternative High School

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