Troubled Baltimore City students will attend school in the building where schools chief Andres Alonso and his staff work, under a proposal the school board approved Tuesday night.

Alonso, who is at a leadership conference at Harvard University this week and was not at the meeting, has called for more alternative schools to reach the students who have fallen furthest behind. He recently finished removing about 300 employees from the central office, reassigning many to schools.

About 100 students who are serving long-term suspensions will attend school at the building on North Avenue, with half going to school in the morning and the other half going in the afternoon. The school is to be called Success Academy.

“I think there’s something very symbolic about opening North Avenue up to the students who have been most” in need, said school board member Kalman Hettleman.

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The board passed the measure but expressed concern over how students would coexist in the building with staff.

“When you say ‘alternative school,’ it creates a bad connotation,” said Brian Morris, chairman of the school board. “We clearly understand, and you clearly understand, is that these are our students and they need to be serviced.”

Chinquapin Middle School also will become an alternative school next year for more than 500 students whose academic achievement has fallen behind their age by at least two years, under the approved plan.

msilvestri@baltimoreexaminer.com