It was the magic of the municipal airport—the roar of planes taking off, the whir of propellers, the romance of crop dusters swooping low over wheat fields and nut trees—that lured Bob Taylor away from the classroom.

His dad owned an airplane —a Stinson "Stationwagon" —and Taylor started haunting the hangars and runways in his hometown of Modesto, California, when he was only 11. By the time he was a sophomore, a part-time gig washing planes had turned into a full-time job servicing crop dusters.

He and his teachers were at odds. "I would come to school dripping with chemicals and sulfur," he remembers. "They didn't like me, and I didn't like them. My interests did not lie in school."

After the school ousted him ("Their exact words were, 'You're uneducable,'" he recalls), he became an aircraft mechanic and joined the Air Force, where he spent 27 years as a supervisor at bases all over the world. But he always regretted not having his diploma. After a short stint as a trainer in the Saudi Arabian air force, he returned to the states and, at age 43, graduated from high school. A bachelor's degree from Boise State University followed. In 1984, the school dropout became a teacher.

He "jumped at the opportunity" to help start Meridian Academy eight years ago.

"The dropout kids need a lot more help (than other kids), and it just isn't there for them," says Taylor, now 67. "We don't have it in the big schools. Families don't know what to do. Court systems are swamped. TV and drugs get more pervasive."

Taylor once conducted an informal survey of 25 Meridian students. He asked them two questions: What's the worst thing that ever happened to you? And, what's the best thing that ever happened to you? Nineteen students—76 percent—had the same answer for Question 1: "My parents' divorce." Twenty-five students—100 percent —had the same answer for Question 2: "Coming to this school."

"There is a family atmosphere in this school," Taylor says. "I think that is a key to success with these kids. I look every kid in the eye every day when they come through the door. If they're not feeling well, I know it."

Taylor has visited alternative schools and talked to at-risk kids all over the West. Everywhere, he says, these students will give you the same answer for why they are successful in an alternative school: "The teachers care for me. They understand what my problem is. They work with me to get the job done."

Schools like Meridian Academy are in far greater demand than supply, Taylor says. A second alternative high school and an alternative middle school that recently opened in the Boise area filled up immediately. All the schools have waiting lists.

"We're just hitting the tip of the iceberg on the kids who need help," Taylor says. "The whole educational system in America has to change."