Kelsey Volkmann, The Examiner
2008-05-14 07:00:00.0
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BALTIMORE -

To keep troubled kids from dropping out, city schools chief Andres Alonso unveiled plans Tuesday for four new alternative schools where suspended students can attend morning and night classes to catch up on credits.

The new schools, which will add 1,200 alternative school seats for a total of 2,650 seats, will offer counseling and mentoring programs for troubled students and new transitional programs for students on extended suspension or expulsion.

On any given school day in Baltimore, about 270 students are on long-term suspensions or expulsions.

For students who are over-age, Baltimore Rising Star Academy will open this fall and serve 200 middle school students, one in a morning shift and another at night.

Achievement Academy at Harbor City High School and Excel Academy at Francis M. Wood High School will also target over-age students in morning and evening shifts.

The Success Academy will target 50 students at three different sites by working on both their misbehavior and their school work until they complete the program and are recommended by school staff to return to regular schools.

“If you are in eighth grade and two years over age [for your grade], I know we have to put an aggressive program in place to make sure you stay in school,” Alonso said.

The city has five alternative schools: Alternative Learning Center for elementary students and another for middle school students; Laurence G. Paquin Middle/High School for pregnant students; Francis M. Wood High School; and Harbor City High School.

Harbor City and Wood high schools will soon replace all or most of their staff, including the principal, under a plan required by the federal No Child Left Behind for schools with consistently low test scores.

kvolkmann@baltimoreexaminer.com