Describing the motivation for the center, High School principal Buzz Brazeau theorized that Hilltop High struggled because the school followed a traditional classroom model with regular hours despite serving students who had trouble succeeding in traditional school. Instead of the cliche of trying to force a square peg through a round hole, the principal proposes changing the shape of the program to fit better the student.

“No matter what size the circle, when you put a square peg through a round hole, what you’re getting is 63.7 percent effective. The rest is wasted,” he said. “(We need to) make a peg of a different shape, maybe it’s a hexagon, maybe it’s an octagon. When you look at a hexagonal peg, it’s 82.7 percent effective.”

To help serve different student needs, the Innovative Learning Center would operate from 1-9 p.m. Monday-Thursday. The evening program would provide direct instruction and credit recovery options for students while the non-traditional schedule would also include time for students only working on finishing a GED, not a diploma. It would allow students identified as “safety risks” to take classes only in the last hour of the day, when other students had already left. Some students could also benefit from virtual school and home tutor options.

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