About us

Programs

Recognition Program

Enroll

Resources

Satellite Program

John Lackey was born in 1942 in Detroit, Michigan, where he spent his
childhood and received his elementary and secondary education in that
city's  Highland Park neighborhood. He entered the U. S. Army shortly
after turning 17, spending a portion of his military service near Cold
War era Berlin, and received an honorable discharge in 1965.

Returning to Michigan, John undertook a variety of pursuits and
employment, including a stint as an explosives handler for a State
Geological Survey crew. During the late '60s, John went to California
where, living for about a year in San Francisco, he worked in that
city's post office and as a cab driver while attending classes at Golden
Gate Free University.  

He returned to Michigan in 1970 and began to attend Kirkland Community
College there from the fall of 1970 until 1972, when he moved to
Washington state and attended Western Washington University in
Bellingham, graduating with a B. S. degree in Environmental Sciences and
Education in 1974, and completing the WWU Comprehensive Teacher
Education program in 1975. Since that time, he has taken a variety of
graduate-level education courses from various state colleges.  

In 1974, John began teaching environmental sciences and math at
Ferndale High School (in Washington state), where he worked with Native American students and designed, set up, and ran alternative high school programs.  

John left the public school system and founded the Alger
Learning Center & Independence High School in 1981. Twenty-five years later, the Alger Learning Center remains dedicated to freedom in learning and unbridled education, while supporting independent learning, homeschooling, and unschooling.

John soon began working with distance learning, and has
seen a growing need for those services over the past ten years.  

Raising his 15 year old son is John Lackey's number one diversion. An
avid boater and amateur astronomer who built his own house, his other
interests include (but are not limited to) geology, marine biology,
computer science, and music. His residence and the ALC campus are
located in rural northwestern Washington, minutes away from mountains,
forests, and saltwater Puget Sound.