BREVARD COUNTY – In a school district that cracked down hard on students misbehaving, two special schools for kids with some of the worst behavior will now be closing at the end of the year.
The Brevard County school board voted this month to start a diversion program for its alternative learning centers in Merritt Island and Melbourne in hopes of returning those expelled students to their normal classrooms and helping them graduate.
“The more we can keep that student connected to their campus, to their teachers, to their community, it’s a better chance for that student to walk across that stage,” school board chair Gene Trent said at the March 11 school board meeting.
The district said there are currently about 200 students in the two alternative learning centers (ALC).
School board member Megan Wright dismissed any concerns about unruly students causing more disruption once they return to the school they were kicked out of.
“It’s not for the kids that are disrupting the campus to come back and continue to disrupt the campus,” Wright said. “That’s not what’s gonna happen here. I truly believe it will, in the long run, be better for our students and better for our staff, overall.”
Through the diversion program, the district said ALC students will be supervised at all times, won’t be able to play sports or do other activities, and they’ll get counseling.
Bernard Bryan of the South Brevard chapter of the NAACP raised concerns about making those resources available.
“Will there be enough social workers?” Bryan asked the board. “Will there be enough counselors to support these schools that have a very tight bandwidth right now?”
Board member Katye Campbell answered, “The schools that have a high percentage of students who are coming back, we’re gonna provide that extra support. Plus, we’re also talking about, generally, at a time, one or two, very small handful of students coming back in,” she said.
The district said 31 of 38 staff members who work at the ALCs will be reallocated back to schools.
