WATCH ME: Carol Melcher Reflects a Special Career at Saline Area Schools

In 2010, Carol Melcher never sought out the role of Saline Alternative High School principal. She was later in her career and didn’t know if she had the time, energy or passion to recreate a school with a 25 percent graduation rate.

But she felt that the job offer was more of a job ultimatum.

“I said OK because the options were to take the job or find something else to do in another district,” Melcher said. “I got the feeling they wanted me to fail.”

Melcher approached the challenge like she did with many in her life.

“Watch me.”

It wasn’t easy. She called her first year at Saline Alternative High School, spent in the basement of Union School, the worst of her career.

Today, as Melcher nears her retirement from Saline Area Schools, the school boasts a 100 percent graduation rate.

She remembers starting.

“OK, let’s accept this challenge and see what we can do with it,” Melcher said.

The first step, she said, was to surround herself with a phenomenal staff and “get them to buy into the vision.”

Brad Woelke, Jason Pickett and Tracy Lamb are a few of the longest-serving staffers.

“My vision was more of a therapeutic day treatment program than it is for a high school,” Melcher said.

She said the term “alternative” leads people to assume it’s a school for druggies, dropouts, pregnant teens and all the “bad kids” who don’t fit into traditional schools.

“I wanted to look at why we had students with those negative behaviors and see what we could do about fixing them before we address the academic need,” Melcher said.

The first hour of every day of school is a therapeutic program. Every day, every student gets some sort of therapeutic intervention bolstering their mental health. For example, every Tuesday is Tally Tuesday, where kids set goals that are achievable by the end of the week.

They also do a scripted meeting called the “school safety minute” which is a way to assure students they’re physically safe in school.

“If they don’t feel safe physically, they won’t feel safe emotionally,” Melcher said.

She talks to the students about what she saw last week and how they can all improve.

“It’s about taking kids where they are and showing them how to get better, one day at a time,” Melcher said.

Melcher inspects the Saline Alternative High School garden.

A program called EduGuide helps teach students about character development and helps students deal with roadblocks in life.

“When you get to that roadblock, what happens? You don’t just give up and fall back,” Melcher said.

Every Thursday, social worker Mark Schuby does a full-school lesson on social-emotional wellness.

Melcher intentionally structures the program so that the first hour of the day is dedicated to making sure students are in tact mentally before they tackle academics.

Most years, 35-40 students are enrolled at Saline Alternative High School.

“I think the vast majority of students are here now because they couldn't find a safe, nurturing person at Saline High School, or they didn’t find a niche, whether that’s a sport or club, or they didn’t find their group of friends. Maybe they found their group of friends, but it was leading them down a bad path,” Melcher said. “A lot of kids come here for a fresh start.”

Today, 100 percent of the kids are graduating with a high school diploma and the confidence that comes from facing adversity and coming out the right side.

“At our year-end senior send-off, a lot of tears are shed. Students tell me there’s no way they could have graduated without me, the staff and the school,” Melcher said. “And the best part is they tell the younger students to stick with the program and not to give up because ‘if I can do it, you can do it.”

Melcher is pictured with students making salsa from their vegetable's garden

In the beginning

Melcher was born in Detroit, lived in Livonia when she was young and then moved to Jackson for high school.

Her drive developed, she thinks, because she has an older brother who was an overachiever.

“Back then, boys were so much more important than girls. So, my dad viewed my brother as prince-apparent. Whatever he wanted, he got,” Melcher said. “He has two degrees - one in law and one in medicine. This is a guy who really went after it and did it. So, from a very young age, I said, ‘I can do that. What makes you think you’re so great because you were born a boy?’”

Melcher said that’s where she likely developed her competitiveness and her “watch me” attitude.

“There was always the thought that girls are ‘less than.’ So, in order for me to feel I was looked on as an equal with my male counterparts, I had to work twice as hard.”

The Path to Education

She loved music in high school, playing Ado Annie in the school’s production of Oklahoma.

Melcher applied and was accepted to the UofM but chose to go to Olivet after she heard from a good friend that Olivet offered good scholarships to musicians.

"I was a music kid and music kids tend to follow their dreams. And then reality hits and you're like, ‘you know what, there are slim pickings there.’"

At first, Melcher wasn’t passionate about education “largely because all of my family are educators and I wanted to strike out on my own path.”

She paid her way through school working as a lifeguard and loved swimming. She became interested in a career as a physical therapist. But educational opportunities were too expensive. She decided to look at things differently and decided that she would attend Eastern Michigan University and pursue a master’s degree in special education of students with physical disabilities.

“And once I learned, I loved it,” Melcher said.

Arriving in Saline

She began teaching for Willow Run Schools in Ypsilanti. She got married, had a few kids and decided to take time away from teaching to raise her children. They moved to Saline for the schools.

“I will tell you that right out of the box, I was hesitant because of Saline's Lily white atmosphere,” she said.

She felt Ann Arbor’s proximity would give her children access to more activities and more diversity.

She eased back into education by subbing at Saline in 1985,

Soon, she was hired as a full-time special education teacher and worked under principal Kim Van Hoek at Union School, which had the early childhood center. She then transferred to Houghton where she was a teacher consultant. She worked in special education at Jensen Elementary, which became Pleasant Ridge. Next it was Saline Middle School (When it as in what’s now Liberty School) under principal Joe Schwartz.

Melcher said the team at Saline Middle School did phenomenal work.

“I got to work with people like Debbie Budnik, Marlene Weintraub and Duane Koppelman and others. For years it felt luke there was this stigma in about working in special educational, as if we were just here to help kids cheat through classes. But those educators appreciated that we could show them different ways to help kids,” Melcher said. “At Saline Middle School, I felt like was not a helper, but a partner in the education of children. We had a great build chemistry and the culture was so positive.”

SHS, FHA and Golf

Melcher moved to Saline High School to take on the advisor role for the Future Homemakers of America club. She was told she would have to become a teacher there to be an advisor. At first, she was hesitant, because she’d never worked with students that old.

She remembers working with FHA as one of her favorite experience in Saline Schools. At 362 members, it was the largest FHA club in the nation.

“We attracted kids from all over the school. They loved what we did,” Melcher said.

Unlike Most FHA clubs, the Saline club had a lot of male members. Why?

“Well, if I were a young man at the time, I’d say, ‘because there are so many girls,’ right? But a lot of boys did great the competitions with things public speaking and debate. On top of it, we got to travel around the country,” Melcher said. “We went to New Orleans and San Diego and Washington DC. Every trip had its own fun stories and the kids always did well and we always represented our school and our community very well.”

She also enjoyed working in special education with high school students.

While at SHS, Clem Corona resigned as golf coach. Melcher’s kids played golf and her son Scott was on on the team.

“It looked like nobody was stepping up and I didn’t want the position to go unfilled, so I applied,” Melcher said.

Melcher faced questions.

For one, while she could golf, she wasn’t skilled.

But she also faced questions from people who doubted that a female coach their boys. At times, it was downright absurd.

“I was asked if I could handle driving the Hornet van. Yeah, I think I’ll be fine,” Melcher deadpanned.

Melcher said a lot of the Saline golfers had their own swing coaches.

“I didn’t want to mess with that. But I can help you gameplan a course. And in golf, you can be derailed quickly if you can’t get back on track unless you’ve got mental toughness,” Melcher said. “And so that's what worked on with the students.”

Melcher, it turned out, coached a dominant team. They were second in the Division 1 state tournament three times and won it all in 2006 - winning by 23 strokes. Spencer Slade, Phil Gieseker, Matt Paterini, Johnny Kozlowski and Nick Campbell won for the Hornets.

Nobody was questioning Melcher anymore.

“Any time I’ve been told that I can’t, my attitude has been ‘watch me,’” Melcher said. “I’m a person who creates programs and creates opportunities for kids.”

And that’s the other side of Melcher. It’s not just about defiantly proving herself. It's about helping people.

“You won’t find a person with a bigger heart, And that’s often overlooked by people who don’t take the time to get to know me,” Melcher said.

It’s a little surprising, given she’s spent her career helping kids. When she started narrowing in a profession, she wanted to be a physical therapist for kids with mobility issues. She’s helped children as a special education teacher. She stepped in to help teenagers win the state golf championship. She developed a club so popular with students that it was the largest in the country. She improved the alternative high school’s graduation rate from 25 percent to 100 percent.

Where does that drive to step and help come from?

Melcher said she came from a nurturing and loving home where she was shown how to help others. That’s a lesson she’s tried to pass on to all her students along the way.

“One of the things we stress is the importance of gratitude. It will always come back to you. It helps you feel so much better when you give to others,” Mencher said. “That’s how we get to where we need in the world - by helping others. Nobody gets through this life alone.”

Melcher’s retirement isn’t all a feel-good story. She feels like she’s being forced out after 37 years in Saline Area Schools.

“I don’t think anybody should go out this way,” said Melcher. “But it’s OK. I’ll be fine. I’ve got lots of things on the horizon.”

Those things include an alternative education consulting business and university-level online teaching - along with some travel.

Have any doubts?

You can guess which two words Melcher might use.

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