Valor School takes victory lap, sets goals for the year.

Two years after opening, Valor High School has doubled the number of graduating students and sent more to college. Staff celebrated the gains as they shared their plans for the school year with the School Committee on Oct. 7.

Valor staff acknowledged that the school is still growing and refining how to support students. In its first year, the alternative program graduated 14 students. In its second year, that number jumped to 27, with another 36 expected this year. 

“It’s more than a job. If this school wasn’t here, and if the vision was never here, there are so many students [whose] lives, the trajectory of their lives would be so different,” said Linda Flueckiger, who came on board as acting principal midway through Valor’s first year. 

Valor’s students are over 17 and enter far behind their appropriate grade level. The school also enrolls young parents under 17. The program is designed to be flexible, letting students come for at least three days a week, or for only part of the day. 

Because it serves a high-needs population, the school measures progress differently than other Waltham public schools. One measure Flueckiger highlighted was the number of completed course module, which jumped from 157 in 2024-25 to 456 last year. 

The school’s graduates are also pursuing more varied plans instead of entering the workforce immediately. In its first year, 100% of Valor graduates started working right away. Of the class of 2026, however, three went on to two-year colleges, one went to a four-year college, two went to the military and one went to a trade program, while three-quarters entered the workforce. 

The school currently enrolls 60 students, but has capacity for 75.

Students get individual attention

The detailed presentation informed the School Committee about how Valor provides its “socioemotional care,” as teacher Mike Russo put it. 

Each student has an individual success plan reviewed with an advisory teacher, sets weekly academic and attendance goals and receives a progress report every five weeks. Valor also helps its students see a clear progression toward mastery of a subject. 

On college and career readiness, Valor will host a college and career fair, take the full school to MassBay Community College in November and visit the MassHire Network in the spring. A counselor from Youth Connections also visits to help students with career planning. 

Flueckiger spoke about four planned team-building trips with Intrepid Academy at Hale Reservation. On the first, students hiked to the summit, ate lunch at the top and took on leadership roles in group activities.

Valor also plans on working more closely with Waltham High School, and setting up a more official referral process between the two schools. Students at Valor are often referred by counselors at WHS if they are overaged or undercredited, or have other special circumstances that might make them a good fit for the alternative model. However, Mayor Jeannette A. McCarthy expressed her wish for a more formal process earlier this year.

“We’re all one Waltham, right?” Flueckiger said. “So all the students are all of our students.” 

Huge ripple effects

Valor has hired an educational consultant for the year to lead a referral committee, which will allow students to enroll in any month rather than only in September, October and January as in past years. Valor staff will also join WHS’s dropout prevention meetings. 

A newly hired family liaison will also help to guarantee weekly home visits for students struggling with chronic absenteeism. Flueckiger said that in the past, visiting a student at home, or even just leaving a note for them, often led to them attending school “the very next day.”

Committee member Sabrina DeJoannis pointed out that attendance tends to drop sharply during the winter months. Flueckiger explained that many Valor students support themselves with seasonal work, and find themselves very busy in the winter. She also said many students experience mental health challenges in the winter, but that the school has robust support ready for that. 

As it begins its third year of operation, Valor is drawing wider attention. In December, the school will host a summit of other alternative schools across the state who want to “check us out,” Flueckiger said. Alongside success is uncertainty. A grant from the Barr Foundation, which has funded much of Valor’s programming up to this point, is slated to end soon. 

School Committee members showered praise on Valor and its staff for the impact it has made. 

“We’re really opening so many doors for these students,” said committee member Edward Tarallo. “And that will have huge ripple effects in their families for generations. Words don’t really go to how much thanks that you all deserve for what you’re doing.”