An alternative school in Longmont is expanding its reach by partnering with a nonprofit that offers housing to high risk youth.
Crossroads School, which offers schooling to students that have struggled in traditional settings, has begun working with the Longmont-based Mountain States Children’s Home to serve more students. Crossroads School Executive Director Barb Bulthuis said the partnership started because a student who was enrolled at Crossroads for two years entered placement at Mountain States over the summer.
Bulthuis explained that Crossroads' principal reached out to Mountain States to see if it might be possible to continue the student’s enrollment at Crossroads since the student had done well and seen positive growth. As faith-based organizations targeting young people who need help the most, they turned out to have a lot in common.
“The Crossroads administrative team and the Mountain States leadership met and discussed the situation, agreed that our philosophies and goals are similar, and decided this would be a positive partnership,” Bulthuis said.
Mountain States already sends some students to Longmont Christian School, which is just six blocks from Crossroads. This made transportation easy, allowing the transportation to swing by Crossroads on their way.
There was also discussion of partnering to serve additional students, like youth Mountain States had not been able to accept in the past because they couldn’t meet the students’ academic needs in their small on-campus schooling program.
“We're excited to be able to work together to serve more students and serve them better!” Bulthuis said.
