On paper, it’s just a homeschool support program. But in practice, Ditch School aims to be more than that.

The bold acronym DITCH says it all: “Dare to Innovate and Transcend Cultural Hegemony.”

“The idea of hegemony is that the people that are in power – whether they’re the elite rich, or the big corporations, or whatever – they tell the rest of us a story that keeps them in power,” founder Jessica London Jacobs told the Outpost during an interview. “And I really believe that our K-12 education system is this hegemonic reality.” 

So Jacobs, a teacher and former Arcata resident, created Ditch School from her Topanga, Los Angeles home in 2010. This September, Jacobs is moving back to Arcata, and she’s bringing Ditch School with her. 

In a nutshell, Ditch School helps 10- to 18-year-olds “hack the system,” as one student said, by enrolling in community college classes and pursuing passion projects in lieu of middle or high school. Jacobs – who clarified that Ditch is a private educational support program and not a school – says many of her students are accepted to four-year universities years ahead of their peers. And recently, Jacobs and some students have become involved with innocence work, the effort to free wrongfully incarcerated people from prison. The model is so open-ended, Jacobs says, there is opportunity to pursue anything. And then: “magic happens.” 

But education leaders in Humboldt say that though branded quite differently, Ditch School’s basic offerings seem similar to those of existing charter schools in the county, and expressed concerns and skepticism about the program.

“Let’s start with the term ‘Ditch School,’” Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes wrote in an email to the Outpost. “This may be a catchy term for a middle or high school student, but is this the messaging that resonates with most parents who understand that regular school attendance is critical to student success?”

###

It was Jacobs’ son’s unusual educational journey that inspired Ditch School: a path twisting through 23 schools and around bureaucratic loopholes, ending with a college degree at age 16.

Sage, a child actor, often got into trouble as a young student for stuff like doodling on his papers or talking without raising his hand. He was 11 when Jacobs decided to seek an option more radical than the handful of alternative schools Sage had already tried. At the time, Jacobs was teaching high school algebra and sometimes struggled to convince her students that it was applicable to adult life. 

“The kids called BS on me. And they were right,” she said. “Eventually, I just said: Wow, I need to stop doing this because I’m causing harm to all these kids who hate math. They’re stressed about it and it’s destroying their lives, for literally no reason – nobody will use algebra in their real life. And if they do, they will learn it on the job.”

She discovered that anyone, regardless of age, could enroll at a community college near her home in L.A., so she signed Sage up for geology and pulled him out of middle school. After accumulating college credits here and there – and filling his free time with acting, competitive surfing and working at a comic book shop – Sage had enough credits to transfer to a university. He was accepted to UC Berkeley at 14 and graduated in two years with a degree in performance studies and art. 

“Once my eyes were open to this, I started doing it for other kids,” Jacobs said. 

Here’s how it works: Jacobs helps families navigate the bureaucratic process of foregoing public education, either by legally establishing their own home as a private school or by declaring they have credentialed home tutors. (Jacobs assured that the legal requirements for these two homeschooling avenues – explained in more detail here – are met at her program.) Then, parents send their kids to Ditch. 

And what happens there? All of Jacobs’ students – she calls them “ditchers” – enroll in one or more college courses of their choice. Though Ditch offers virtual support to students around the globe, Jacobs encourages those who can to come in person. 

Arcata’s Ditch School will be located above Humbrews on 10th Street. Describing the Topanga location (which will stay open), Jacobs said formal activity at the “coworking space” operates just three days a week, but it’s always open to students. There, mentors support students while they socialize, do homework or work on other projects. Once or twice a day they gather for a game or group conversation, often about something controversial that might stir up disagreement. 

Fittingly, ditchers are free to come and go as they please. 

“We don’t have rules like you have to eat exactly at 12 o’clock, or you need to get permission to go to the bathroom, or raise your hand before you talk, or put your phone away during class,” Jacobs said. “Those are things that we want them to learn on their own, not because an authority figure told them that they had to do it this way.”

Jacobs calls her model a version of unschooling because students independently choose what college classes to take and how to spend their free time, with an emphasis on community involvement. Her ideology is inspired by an Indigenous worldview, a topic that she’s written about and is “the motivation for my work in decolonizing education and the legal system,” she said. On Tuesday, her team shared a press release describing the program in more detail. 

“Tuition” at Ditch School will be around 500-600 dollars per month, an amount that is cheaper than any private school in the area, Jacobs said. She plans to help financially strained students seek sponsorships and work trades with local businesses. 

Jacobs said Ditch School can suit anyone but is geared toward students who face barriers with the mainstream education system. Down in L.A., that’s included competitive athletes and actors, but Ditch is also for people who struggle with school or just don’t like it, Jacobs said, including those who are bullied, suffer from eating disorders or addiction, or who have attention disorders and can’t focus on six classes at once.

“I’d also really like to draw those kids who are interested in becoming lawyers, or doctors, or authors or anything,” she said. “If they already know what they want to do, please don’t waste your time in high school.” 

Angelina Avraham was 11 when she left her private middle school to attend Ditch. Her family learned about it through Sage, who was a substitute teacher at Avraham’s school and told parents there about his mom’s program. 

“‘Everybody was like, ‘She’s crazy,’” Avraham told the Outpost. “‘There’s no way that’s possible.’” 

But then COVID hit, so her family went to check out Ditch, which was offering in-person services at the time. Avraham said she did not want to go at first but slowly warmed up to it. Jacobs helped Avraham sharpen her reading and writing skills before enrolling in her first community college class, child development. 

“She really motivated me. I think that’s one thing that’s amazing about Jessica: she always motivates you to try,” Avraham said. “She’s a girl boss.” 

At 15, Avraham is about to start her senior year at UCLA, studying anthropology but considering a switch to criminal justice.

Jacobs is proud that her students do less school work with the same results as kids in traditional middle and high schools, who she says go through unnecessary stress in advanced placement classes and extracurriculars to get into college. 

Meanwhile, ditchers have more free time. With it, Jacobs said, they volunteer, help out on political campaigns, work part-time jobs, learn musical instruments, develop trade skills, study for the LSAT, start a small business … or maybe look into the details of a potentially wrongful conviction.

###

Ditch School became involved with innocence work in 2020, after Jacobs watched a docuseries about wrongfully incarcerated people called “The Innocence Files.” Inspired, she contacted the innocence attorney who was featured in the series to ask how she could help. 

The attorney told her to look into the case of Jofama Coleman, an innocent man who was convicted of driving the getaway car in a 2003 drive-by murder in LA. With Jacobs’ help, Coleman was exonerated in February 2024 after 19 years in prison. She and her students also helped free Abel Soto, who was wrongfully convicted of shooting the victim in that same case. 

The story was covered by the Los Angeles Times and New York Times (reprinted here without a paywall), but for Jacobs it was just the beginning of her involvement with innocence work. 

The nonprofit Georgia Innocence Project estimates that four to six percent of incarcerated individuals in the United States are actually innocent. Jacobs said that she and her students have helped to exonerate four people, three more are in the exoneration process, and Ditch School is currently working on another twelve cases. Inmates have started reaching out to Ditch School to ask for help (innocence attorneys, often working pro bono, are overwhelmed). 

“We’re not practicing law without a license,” Jacobs explained; anyone can assist a case by doing background research. After investigating, organizing and summarizing a case, students present the information to an innocence organization, which then decides whether to take it on.

It’s not a requirement at Ditch School, but several of Jacobs’ students are working on cases. A couple of them created the nonprofit Youth for Innocence to work on cases and educate students on how to get involved with innocence work. 

“I love that [the students] are doing it and I love that they’re getting out people who went away when they were teenagers,” Jacobs said. “Abel Soto, the most recent guy to get out, he was 15 years old. And when we’re listening to the audio of the police interrogating him, it’s devastating. But for our teens that are 15 right now to hear that is powerful.”

The three former students of Jacobs’ we talked to said they’re considering careers in criminal justice after working on innocence cases at Ditch School. One of them, 18-year-old Asha Perry-Datt, is starting law school this fall. 

By the end of their time at Ditch, every student has a high school diploma, and most earn an associates degree as well – usually one to four years ahead of their age group, Jacobs said. Applying to a four-year university is one of the few requirements at Ditch School, but students don’t have to go if they don’t want to. 

Avraham said that entering UCLA at 14 was challenging. She had an argument with her mom over wanting to live in the dorms (her mom won), and she has found the social aspect of college isolating.

“Beginning UCLA, it’s so lonely,” she said. “I feel like every student that I’ve interacted with kind of treats me like a child.” Though she’s starting to find a friend group, Avraham said her social life remains built up around her weekly visits to Ditch School. This fall, she wants to start an organization at UCLA for underage students like herself.

Avraham said that it’s worth it, despite the isolation. She’s excited to be done with school. 

“I’ve always loved learning. I just hate the way that it’s taught. I hate the school systems,” said Avraham. “I don’t agree with how we’re evaluated on what we know and what we’re learning, and especially how it puts students down.” She says Ditch School changed her life for the better. 

“I have no idea where I would be if I wasn’t at Ditch,” Avraham said. “I absolutely love it there. And it may sound a little bit crazy, but it’s an amazing program.” 

The Ditch website touts students’ accomplishments in media links and lists university admits, but County Superintendent of Schools Michael Davies-Hughes expressed some doubt in those metrics for success. 

“I have looked at the information currently available on Ditch School and the details on student outcomes are based on testimonials, press releases and a list of student ‘graduates’ with the universities and colleges to which they have been accepted,” he said. 

“To me, that is insufficient evidence of a successful program.”

###

Jacobs believes that a small college town like Arcata is perfect for Ditch. Walkability is important, the university and natural environment are a plus, and she likes the community here, full of folks who think outside the box. 

But Davies-Hughes said he’s “seen no evidence” that there is a demand for more alternative education in Humboldt given the county’s existing 31 districts and 15 charter schools, including some nonclassroom-based options. 

One such option is Alder Grove Charter School, a K-12 of about 460 students that offers homeschooling support, in-person tutoring and virtual assistance countywide. In a phone interview, the charter’s Director Tim Warner said that based on the information available to him, Ditch School’s offerings sound very similar to Alder Grove’s. 

Alongside its independent study program, Alder Grove students can optionally attend the Eureka location twice a week, and highschoolers may concurrently enroll in courses at College of the Redwoods. For students with more niche interests, Alder Grove has a Career and Technical Education department with pathways like culinary arts, digital media or construction.

Warner said he’d be surprised if families choose to pay for Ditch School when they can get a similar education for free at Alder Grove or other programs in Humboldt. 

Jacobs said that while commendable, existing alternative programs don’t do enough to challenge the status quo. 

“There’s a lot of programs for alternative education that are trying to evolve what’s in the mainstream schools, and there’s some great ones in Humboldt County,” she said. “But what I have learned in my experience with Ditch School is: let’s just knock that. Instead of an educational evolution, it’s an educational revolution.”

As it stands, she criticizes mainstream education for its structure and application of authority. 

“I feel like school was an experiment to create workers and soldiers. It did a good job of that,” she said. “But in all other ways, I think it was a failed experiment.” 

But Davies-Hughes said that public schools, at least in Humboldt, aren’t what Ditch School makes them out to be. 

“The Ditch School website states that existing school environments involve ‘Sitting in hard desks under fluorescent lights for six hours per day not allowed to ask a question or go to the bathroom without getting permission from an authority figure,’” Davies-Hughes said. “This is not the reality within any classroom in Humboldt County.”

He’s concerned that local families frustrated with their school experience and looking for a “quick fix” may turn to Ditch School. “I am skeptical that Ditch School will be able to provide this quick fix in the short or long term,” he said.

That said, Davies-Hughes doesn’t anticipate that Ditch School will impact existing educational services in the county. 

“I encourage families to reach out to our local schools to learn more about the programs currently being offered,” he said. “I believe they will find what they are looking for.”

###

Before opening in September, Jacobs will hold info sessions for Ditch School at the Arcata Playhouse on June 17th and August 18th.