ROCKLAND — 2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the birth of modern special education. Throughout the year, Boston 25 News is celebrating the achievements of students and educators and acknowledging some of the challenges they face.
For some students with social-emotional needs, a typical school setting doesn’t work for them. Some get kicked out. Boston 25′s Kerry Kavanaugh spent a day inside a Rockland school that’s giving students a second chance.
From print blocking in the innovation lab to using board games to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills as part of math class, for students at the North River School in Rockland, it’s not just the lessons that are engaging them. It’s the approach they needed.
“A lot of the teachers here, I got, like, personal connections where it’s like, really not even like their teachers and like their friends,” said North River senior, Kyle Johnson.
“I didn’t even get a chance to step foot in a regular high school,” said senior, Ibo Beyaztas.
Beyaztas and Johnson have spent their high school years at North River. It is an alternative middle and high school for students with social/emotional disorders in grades 5-12 and part of the North River Collaborative serving kids in Rockland, Abington, Bridgewater, Hanover, and Stoughton.
Both shared with Boston 25′s Kerry Kavanaugh they have ADHD, struggled in a typical school setting, and made some bad decisions.
“Basically, getting into a lot of fights and not doing what I need to do,” said Johnson.
“Being here made me realize, like, I didn’t need to do those stupid things,” said Beyaztas. “You could just be yourself.”
The small school of about 3 dozen kids creates a more personalized approach to their education.
“It’s not like, oh, it’s a teacher telling me what to do,” Beyaztas said. “They talk to you on why you should do it. Reasons to do it. Like they make you strive to be better here.”
“Where do you think you’d be if you didn’t find the school,” Kavanaugh asked the students.
“Jail probably,” said Beyaztas.”
“Either one of the two,” Johnson said. “Dead or in jail.”
“So, us helping them to realize you can have a positive vision, you can have positive relationships in the future is really where we start with them,” said Paul Tzovolos, executive director of the North River Collaborative.
Tzovolos says when kids walk in the doors, they work to pull them out of the stigma that they’re the so-called ‘bad kids.’
“Our students who have maybe had a trauma, you know, maybe made some difficult decisions in the past, but are very capable, and they’re not here for a negative reason,” Tzovolos said. “They’re here because they just need a higher level of support and a more tailored level of support.”
And that support has paid off.
“I was kind of like giving up on myself and felt the world around me giving up on me too,” said Chris Poh.
When he was a kid, Chris Poh was expelled after bringing a knife to school. His parents started seeking alternative options. Poh says at North River he finally saw a positive vision of his own future.
After graduation, he enlisted in the National Guard. His next job led him back home. He’s now the north river custodian.
“You can screw up terribly. You can feel like you’re irredeemable. If you’re willing to change, other people will come into your life and help you change,” Poh said.
“We’re not focused on students coming here with us and staying here forever. We want them to be successful...in the mainstream setting as well,” said Tzvolos.
Successful and thriving.
“It feels like I’m finally, like, in control of my life for once,” said Beyaztas.”
“This was like my last opportunity, and I did take it and helped out really well,” said Johnson.
And when they graduate in a few months, Beyaztas says he’s looking at welding schools. Johnson is interested in an HVAC program.
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