Joaquin Clavijo-Aparicio, 17, met his mom Monday afternoon for pick-up across the street from the former Washington Elementary School building, where he now attends as a senior at the Billings Opportunity School.
“The students here are very welcoming. They’re nice. The teachers and staff are as well,” Clavijo-Aparicio said.
The Opportunity School offers smaller classes and an individualized approach to graduating with a high school diploma.
“I definitely do like it more than a regular school,” Clavijo-Aparicio said. “It’s less packed. Less stressful.”
Clavijo-Aparicio said is an avid basketball player and working towards his high school diploma, with hopes this school will be the right fit to get him there. He’s one of 80 students, according to Billings Public Schools Director of Secondary Education Gordon Klasna.
“The Opportunity School is an alternative school. Billings used to have an alternative high school a number of years ago. That was closed for different reasons,” Klasna said. “And so, we’re excited as the largest district to have an alternative setting for our students again.”
All three charters opened earlier this month. The other two are the Billings Early College School, which provides college credits to high school students and began with 61 students, and the Billings Multilingual Academy, aimed at middle and high school students learning English.
“It’s been a really exciting time for us,” said Assistant Superintendent Chris Olszewski.
Olszewski said the Multilingual Academy started with 20 middle school students and 20 high school students, with more likely to join as word spreads and Billings’ population grows.
