- April 28, 2024
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When classes start next month, the doors to one school will remain closed.
Everest Alternative School, which serves students who either cannot function in a traditional classroom environment, who have been charged with a crime or who are considered too violent to attend classes on other campuses, will not operate next year — at least not in the capacity it once did.
Using some creativity and frugality, district staff has found a way to preserve the alternative program in an altered form, despite massive cuts to its budgets.
In June, the Flagler County School Board cut the alternative program’s budget to 22% of what it was last year. The cut was one of many the board made after voters rejected a requested 0.5 millage property tax levy for the school district.
The impact to Everest was a $562,130 reduction in its budget.
When this happened, a chief concern among officials, staff and the public was what would happen to its students — particularly those whose legal positions prohibit them from returning to traditional campuses. Expelling those students or sending them out of county would not be ideal, the board said.
Instead, a new alternative schooling program will launch for this school year. Each secondary school will operate its own program, where students who would have attended Everest last year will be taught. All alternative students will be kept in a classroom separate from the rest of the students.
A new teaching software will allow certified teachers to oversee these student’s education, said Winnie Oden, the principal of Everest. Previously, teachers had to be certified in whichever subject they taught, a situation that increased costs because it demanded more teachers.
There will also be options for those students who cannot be on a traditional school campus (such as those who have been convicted of felonies or those who have active restraining orders against them that causes a conflict).
Oden will oversee a three-hour, after-school program for those students. Her budget allows for three part-time teachers to instruct those students, but Oden does not plan to start the school year with all of those positions filled. Instead, she plans to hire new staff as the student population demands.
Currently, a projected 12 students will be enrolling in the after-school program.
In addition to traditional instruction, students will have access to counseling, a service that Oden said is crucial.
“Many of these children are, academically, O.K., but they are broken in other ways — emotional and social ways,” Oden said.
Without counseling services, children who return to traditional school or graduate from high school are no better off because they do not have the discipline or socialization they need.
“We have to address the whole child,” Oden said. “If we start picking and choosing what we address with these children, we lose the ability to make gains.”
Oden presented her budget to the School Board during a Tuesday workshop. Board members said they wished to visit the after-school program once it launches to ensure that it serves its students well. They also requested quarterly updates on the program from Oden, since the program is so new.
Despite the large cuts, however, the district officials remained optimistic about the revamped program.
“I think this program has potential,” Oden said. “It certainly won’t be surprising to anyone when I say it was disappointing when the old Everest went away, but I have a renewed vigor to make sure that these students feel respected and welcomed in the new program.”
