Students, faculty protest consolidation of Aurora Alternative High School

“Smile and look happy. Look smart. Look intelligent,” Chuck Holloway joked to his students.

However, the signs saying “Save Aurora” and “Doesn’t Our Education Matter?” that principal Holloway’s students held up at the town square Monday were not something to laugh about.

Aurora Alternative High School might close because of the Monroe County Community School Corporation’s $4.5 million budget cuts.

Aurora is a choice for students who decide the traditional high school setting doesn’t work for them. Many students left Bloomington High School North and South to attend Aurora.

Aurora freshman Ashley Hartgraves wrote letters to school board members, Gov. Mitch Daniels and President Barack Obama asking them to save her school.

“I tried my best,” she said of her effort to save Aurora. “It makes us feel important and accepted. It’s done a lot for us because at Bloomington High School North and Bloomington High School South, it would be so much harder for us to get by.”

Although the corporation told Holloway it will consolidate the school, Holloway said the building will essentially be moth-balled, and students will be sent to Bloomington North or South. The corporation also recommended cutting media specialists from the elementary and middle schools and programs such as the Teen Learning Center that help at-risk students.

Holloway heard the news on Friday and shared it with his staff. About 20 students met at the school Saturday to organize Monday’s protest.

“Hey, do you guys know we don’t have school today?” one student yelled at the protest.

“Do we get extra credit?” another student screamed in response.

As cars honked as they drove by, Hartgrave said if Aurora closes, she will most likely be home-schooled.

“It’s a big concern for me because I think a lot of these students would go back to North or South and be unhappy,” said Levi Hovis, a 2009 Aurora graduate. “If I was going to Aurora and this happened, I wouldn’t have continued my education. I wouldn’t have hope.”

Chuck Holloway started Aurora 15 years ago. The school now has an enrollment of 80 students and has five full-time and two part-time teachers. The students call him Chuck, and he treats them like family, saying “Love you, man” to one student as he left the protest.

“I feel like he sees his students as people and equals instead of inferior,” Hovis said. “I think a lot of administrators feel they have an authority that isn’t really there. I think Chuck Holloway understands he has limited authority.”

If Aurora closes, Holloway said his teachers and students will be distributed throughout the school district.

Tim Fick, a social studies teacher, has been teaching at Aurora for 13 years, and he’s afraid that if Aurora is closed, it will be 10 to 15 years before there’s another alternative school.

The school board will meet Friday to decide whether they will close Aurora.

“They’re looking to cut more next year,” Holloway said. “It’s not going to be a pretty picture for a long time.”

Although the group planned to protest from 4 to 6 p.m., Holloway called it quits at 5:20 p.m. because of frozen toes and red noses.

After all, they have until Friday.

“You just have to believe in it,” said Michelle Wenk, Aurora’s study hall aide. “I think if people were aware of it, they’d believe in it.”