Originally this venerable building at 621 W. College called Harvey Philip was part of the early history of Waukesha and Wisconsin, providing educational classroom space for the Wisconsin Industrial Home For Boys, the precursor of the Wisconsin juvenile correction facility center located in the Town of Wales in the western part of Waukesha County. The building that Harvey Philip uses was built in 1918 and named for the first superintendent of the Waukesha County Technical College, Harvey E. Philip. This building has educated elementary students and was also part of kindergarten pre-schooling for the Waukesha schools after the Industrial Home for Boys moved to Wales in 1959.

An early program at Harvey Philip was the School Age Parents Program (SAPAR) established in 1986. This program has helped hundreds of teen mothers establish sound pre-natal and parenting skills resulting in scores of healthy children, many of whom are now students in other Waukesha Schools. CAPstone (Collaborative Alternative Program) began in 1992 after receiving a  3-year DPI grant to encourage interagency linkages and social programs to meet the unique educational needs of at-risk youth. It resulted in a unique approach to the education of struggling Waukesha students using both academic and social-emotional strategies. 

In the summer of 2000, the School District of Waukesha (SDW) received a five-year, $100,000 grant to start a 12th grade program addressing both severely credit deficient seniors and academically on-track students at risk of not graduating because of connection/attendance/behavioral issues. While initially called the School of The Alt in its first year, these two programs with 60-80 students became the nucleus of a program for students in need of a different approach to educational success than the traditional, “big-box” high schools could provide.  The program for severely credit deficient seniors is called the Competency Graduation Program.  The program for students needing credit recovery is called the Credit Graduation Program.

In the year 2003, the Harvey Philip Junior Program was started as a credit recovery/credit acceleration program for students behind in credits yet still motivated to earn a Waukesha credit-based diploma.  Students split their day attending classes at Harvey Philip and classes at their home high school or outside paid work/volunteer  experience. 

The most recent program added to meet the needs of Waukesha students is the Half-Day Sophomore Program in 2004.  It serves 15 students who are academically struggling.  They are at Harvey Philip for the morning, receiving instruction in their four core classes, and then they spend the remainder of their day at their home high school where they have lunch and four more classes.

The Harvey Philip School is a collection of six (6) alternative programs for

“at-risk” high school students.  The programs, under one roof, establish sound performance indicators and benchmarks linked to local, state, and national standards.  This is to be achieved through assessment of individual learning styles and application of traditional and non-traditional educational constructs. 

High school students ages 14 through 20 are selected, based on home school   referrals that are appropriate for their individual needs.  Student candidates  include teens who are high risk for reasons that encompass academic underachievement, attendance problems, teen pregnancy, juvenile delinquency, and social/emotional difficulties.  The following programs are included under the umbrella of the charter school:

 * HP-SAPAR- School Age Parents Program- Grades 8-12 (8-18 students)

 * HP-CAPstone Program- Grades 9-10 (includes a social-emotional

    component) (22-26 students)

 * HP-Half Day Sophomore- (10-16 students)

 * HP- Junior Program- Grade 11 (18-31) students

 * HP-Senior Competency-Based Graduation Program, Waukesha diploma

    (24-33 students)

 * HP-Senior Credit-Based Diploma Graduation Program, Waukesha diploma

    (34-52 students)

The school is in its seventh year of active operation as a charter school. The collection of At-Risk programs is organized under a Native-American philosophy called "Reclaiming Youth" based on the work by Brendtro, Brokenleg and Van Bockern and it includes the "Circle of Courage." This philosophy is a major component of a nation-wide movement to help At-Risk youth become reconnected to both education and adult relationships. This reconnection focuses on the critical themes of belonging, mastery, independence, and generosity. The "circle" includes parents and community members and the many students who feel alienated from traditional high schools. Since the 2000/2001 school year, over 292 students have earned their Waukesha high school diplomas where in many cases they would have been certain "drop-outs."