Williams says alternative school will open in fall

[steven]

An East Delavan Avenue school will become an alternative school for disruptive or troubled students this fall, under a plan Superintendent James A. Williams detailed Thursday to cope with persistent student violence.
School 171 will accommodate about 500 students from grades 7 to 12, offering a program that Williams said will include strong academics and a social services component.

"Some people think all these kids are trouble," Williams said. "But they're not all trouble. They just haven't adjusted to our style or school structures."

An emphasis will be placed on motivating students to get involved in extracurricular and other activities. He envisions a school that offers everything from performing arts and fine arts to sports and computer-related activities.

Principals and guidance counselors throughout the district have identified 527 students as being disruptive. "So it's a very small percentage of the students that are causing the problems," Williams said.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...03/1036921.asp

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Originally posted by steven
An East Delavan Avenue school will become an alternative school for disruptive or troubled students this fall, under a plan Superintendent James A. Williams detailed Thursday to cope with persistent student violence.
School 171 will accommodate about 500 students from grades 7 to 12, offering a program that Williams said will include strong academics and a social services component.

"Some people think all these kids are trouble," Williams said. "But they're not all trouble. They just haven't adjusted to our style or school structures."

An emphasis will be placed on motivating students to get involved in extracurricular and other activities. He envisions a school that offers everything from performing arts and fine arts to sports and computer-related activities.

Principals and guidance counselors throughout the district have identified 527 students as being disruptive. "So it's a very small percentage of the students that are causing the problems," Williams said.

http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial...03/1036921.asp

Good for him -- if he can find the funding to do this. Disruptive and messed up as these kids are, I'd much rather see them still in school than out on the streets. As long as they are in school, there is still hope for them.

[Linda_D]

I agree this is a good move. I'd like to see the Mayor and the CC get on board and give extra funding to this project. Maybe Detmers (? - the guy from M&T) ought to solicit funds to help fund some special counseling programs, etc.

It's not enough to just remove these students from the regular schools; they need assistance to cope with/cure whatever it is that's causing the disruptive behavior, and that might mean anything from learning to read phonetically to getting glasses to learning anger management to having their entire family in counseling to being removed from an abusive situation. If they don't get this, when they return to the regular schools, they will probably cause trouble again.

[atotaltotalfan2001]

Here's hoping the alternative school doesn't get a lot of guff from other school administrators and/or parents. All of the schools need money, and I can see how parents who have done all they can to keep their homes and kids on the straight and narrow might resent those who didn't -- and now get their very own school with money that could have gone to their kids' schools. I hope buffalo schools can find independent money for the alternative school. then again, just getting wildly disruptive kids out of regular classrooms probably helps the undisruptive kids loads.