Some go to Riverland, some to the high school, others to the Bank School or the Sheriff’s Youth Ranch, a few even to the basement of the district administration building for a couple hours of tuition daily.

Monday, September 27, 1999

Some go to Riverland, some to the high school, others to the Bank School or the Sheriff’s Youth Ranch, a few even to the basement of the district administration building for a couple hours of tuition daily. Others simply drop out.

Such is the state of alternative education at Austin Public schools.. Students enroll in one or another of the alternative programs for a variety of reasons: some have no choice because they’ve been in trouble; many times it’s because a student’s education plan says he or she needs an alternative to mainstream to reach potential; for others it’s a last chance to get a diploma.

Judging by the drop-out rates – 80-plus students dropped out of the high school and the middle school last year – those alternatives are failing to reach a significant number of students. There are financial reasons to keep those students in school too – last year the district lost $480,000 just from high school dropouts.

Superintendent James Hess and several other district administrators are currently exploring alternatives to the alternatives.

"Right now we have several Band-Aids placed on the situation," Hess said at a Board of Education workshop Friday morning. "I would like to see us go out and create a one-time solution."

The tentative goal is to put all the alternative programs under one roof: a solution that would lead to a pooling of resources, energies and technology. So far the group has explored space options at OakPark Mall, and meet today with Father Nelson to look at under-utilized classroom space at Pacelli High School.

Creating a charter school is another option – one that Hess said is a "big juicy carrot" in Minnesota right now.

"Several districts are seeing a charter school as an option for servicing some of these kids," Hess said. The superintendent touched on charter school funding: among other incentives, the state would make an extra $50,000 available for start-up costs plus an extra $15,000 for lease options.

At the moment everything is an option. Hess said the administration hopes to make a recommendation to the board to allocate funding for space at its 7 a.m. workshop Thursday, but the programs wouldn’t be in place until the next school year.

"We need to get these drop-outs back in school," Hess said. "Frankly, any kid you lose – anyone who drops through the cracks – is one too many."