This content was originally published by the Longmont Observer and is licensed under a Creative Commons license.
“Nothing about me is worth telling,” was the response I got from Jj as we sat in the student counselor’s office and I asked him to tell me about himself. But he had a smile on his face and I could tell that this might have been said in all seriousness at the beginning of his time at Crossroads School in Longmont.
When he described himself as “an odd child,” we started discussing with Jim Steffen, the counselor, what synonyms we could use instead of “odd”. How about “unique”, “queer”, ”peculiar” or, Jj’s suggestion, “idiosyncratic?" Not sure too many 16 year-olds are as effortless with six-syllable words as this 16 year old dyslexic, one-time struggling student. So how did this happen?
In 2010 four women with varied backgrounds in education and a firm desire to help students who would not succeed anywhere else in the public or private education system, decided to do something about it.
Barb Bulthuis is the administrator and public face of Crossroads, and her experience with Rocky Mountain Christian Academy made her realize that even excellent schools cannot serve the “difficult” children well enough. Connie Nourse shares Bulthuis’s creed that there are special kids that need the special environment that Crossroads fosters. She was also a founder of the Longmont school after working in a similar environment in a different state and is now the school’s principal.
The third founder of Crossroads School was Joanna Topham, who has an extensive background in special education, also shared the Crossroads vision, and is a school board member. Finally, Assistant Principal and star middle school teacher, Konni Keuter rounded out the founding team.
Crossroads’ first year had just four students, two in 6th grade and two (twins) in 7th grade. The twins eventually were able to graduate to high school in the mainstream public school system, a goal that is encouraged and shared for some students.
The current school year has 36 students, and Bulthuis believes that their capacity is somewhere between 40 and 50 students, from 6th through 12th grades. The maximum class size is 8 to 10 students, and the self-contained middle school class was expanded with a second class this January.
There are six full-time and three part-time staff at Crossroads, but they are supported by an army of volunteers, including Rumba the therapy dog. She wanders the classrooms and hallways, seemingly searching out those needing a hug or simply some canine companionship. When they feel the day is just a little too stressful, students can curl up with Rumba in a special child-sized dog bed.
Other volunteers cover many services, from student counseling to cleaning bathrooms, offering to teach electives or stuffing envelopes during donation drives. Parents are asked to volunteer about 5 hours a month as well as paying the $50 to $100 a month tuition fees. Everyone is part of the Crossroads team.
Core classes taught are English, History, Math, Science, Bible, and Life Skills. Additional subjects are available at a variety of other institutions. Students can take classes at Front Range Community College through their Concurrent Enrollment program, at the Career Development Center, at their local High School in the St. Vrain district, or take advantage of an internship offered by local businesses or non-profits.
Crossroads is working with Habitat for Humanity to create a formal construction trade internship, and a local veterinary practice is taking one Crossroads student as an intern. Another interned at Rocky Mountain Christian Preschool and is now teaching at the YMCA preschool. Some students have expressed interest in the US Army’s Future Soldiers program and the federal government’s Job Corps program. With Crossroads’ help, students can follow their dreams and goals and know that there are helping hands to guide them both during and after their time at the school.
And how does Jj fit in with the Crossroads ethos?
After moving from school to school in his early years, he decided that making friends was not worth the effort, so he became a loner, spending non-class time trying to convince teachers, counselors and other education adults that he was right in his views of school and life, which meant that they, of course, were wrong.
He knew that he was smart, but couldn’t always find the words that the system wanted him to use. Even today, he is not allowed to enroll in the St. Vrain school system, including their Global Online program. Only a couple of years ago, he discovered that he was dyslexic. Prior to that, he thought that everyone saw words and print moving over the page. He has found that using yellow tinted glasses helps his type of dyslexia, but still relies more on audiobooks.
A year or so ago he happened upon Jim Steffen, the Crossroads volunteer counselor, in a pawn shop where both were looking for used guitars. Jim’s varied background included stints as a professional guitar player, and he took Jj under his wing and developed his musical skills within the Crossroads flexible curriculum.
Jim not only helped his music, but also encouraged Jj’s feelings of belonging. Despite telling me that he has to balance his narcissism with a healthy respect for his ego, Jj willingly agreed to teach some of the middle school students the guitar. So, Friday afternoons he works with four or five younger students and he told me he was very surprised at how well they learned and just how good they were. They played Jingle Bells at the Crossroads’ Christmas celebration and managed not to play a wrong note.
Jj knows he has some way to go before he will consider himself a success in other people’s eyes – not that he really cares how other people view him. But he is more content in the Crossroads’ environment than he has been in years – working as a King Soopers bagger, teaching the younger children how to play the instrument he loves, and actually having friends, whether he realizes that or not. Jj knows his future will not be plain sailing, but it will be on a far better trajectory than he and his family ever thought before.
