Interview with OFC Guidence Counselor - Ms. Mantzaris Thomas

I sat down with Ms. Mantzaris during a free block in her office and asked her these questions. In the room with us was also a intern student, who wants to be an OFC teacher.

1. How many students are in OFC currently?
There are 48 total. 12 per class.  We do not accept freshmen. One sophomore class, one junior class and two senior classes. 

2. What are some of the reasons these students are selected into the program? What is/are the missions/goals of this program?
These students are in the program because they were not successful in the mainstream system. This is due largely to a lack of structure at home.  OFC students frequently skipped classes (or school) and didn't complete their regular homework assignments.  The goals of this program are to instill better study habits for a potential success in the mainstream high school if they wanted to return back. The initial purpose of the OFC program was to get these students to graduate and not become a drop-out, but this mindset has shifted into being ready for the next step after high school.

3. What is the average GPA of the OFC students? 
2.0-2.5 (GPA that includes OFC and regular high school grades) or
3.0 (only calculating OFC grades)

4. What is the average SAT or ACT scores of OFC students? 
Around a 1200 total (includes all 3 sections. Approx. 400 per section). SAT Testing are not the students strongest academic strengths.

5. What colleges are OFC students applying to/ getting accepted into?
OFC students tend to apply close to home.  Schools such as UMASS Dartmouth and Boston are popular schools of interest.  Other local schools such as Curry College and Newbery are popular as well. We try to get them to leave the state and travel, a few have done this, but nearly all students who left the state came back within months.

6. What is the basic structure of the program and what is the curriculum like?
OFC students only focus on one subject at a time. (Math, History, English, Science) Every two weeks they switch topics and study another topic for the next two weeks.  Because of this switch, not much curriculum is covered in a total school year. Many times lessons are review and repetition of what they leaned 6 weeks before hand.  It is like a summer vacation - we forget a lot of what we learned a month or more later and need to get a lot of review in.  A and B blocks are considered their "free" time.  They are allowed to take electives and other academic classes that interest them. 

7.  In your opinion, do OFC students get/do enough schoolwork and homework daily?
Yes. I do think they get enough work.  Because they study only one subject at a time, in school they spend 5-6 hours/day only doing math or science , etc. That's a lot of work for only one subject! Homework is assigned daily and they receive normally 45mins-1hr of homework/night.

8. Do OFC students often go back to the mainstream BHS schooling system? Are they successful? What are reasons students may leave OFC?
Around 15% of students return to the regular system in BHS.  Of that, roughly 50% are successful in the mainstream. The typical reasons students would ever leave OFC are because of their good grades in this program and determination to do well in the regular schooling system, they are not doing well in OFC and are asked to leave the program and finally just because the student wants to leave. 

9. Overall do you feel that OFC is preparing students for life beyond high school?
Over the last few years, I feel as though the program has been doing a better job with this.  We try to instill and teach life skills such as being able to work in the work force, how to get good housing and going to college.  But we can always get better, there is always room for improvement.    

10.  What job opportunities have previous OFC graduates obtained?
Of the ones I have kept in close contact with, they have gotten jobs with the police/fire department, teaching jobs and medical technicians jobs (with doctors and dentists). 

11. Is there anything else you would like to add that proves to the effectiveness of the OFC program?
I've been here for 6 years as a counselor and honestly I have gotten much positive feedback from former students.  Because we're with these kids so much in a small environment, we can't help but bond with them and get very personal relationships.  Many students return back to BHS and tell me how this program helped shaped their lives and played such an essential role in their success.  They liked the structure of the program and how the teachers helped make sure that they stayed on track. I still keep in very close contact with many graduates and this just shows how much OFC is doing in students lives.