BY STEVE KEMME
The Cincinnati Enquirer
HAMILTON -- An alternative school program for expelled and suspended students in two Butler County school districts will be established this fall semester.
The pilot project will be funded by a $1.5 million grant from the Ohio Department of Human Services. County officials learned Monday of the state's decision to award Butler the grant.
"This means that kids who are suspended or expelled will stay in school," Butler County Commissioner Courtney Combs said. "It will also keep them out of the neighborhoods where they cause trouble."
The program could become a model for the rest of the state, Mr. Combs said.
The project, which will be managed by Butler County Juvenile Court, will serve grades 7 through 12 in the Middletown-Monroe and Hamilton school districts. It will enable the students to continue working toward their high school diplomas.
"It is different than what we've done in the past. This program will allow students to make up work," Dr. Norris Brown, director of Pupil Personnel, said Monday night at a meeting of the Middletown - Monroe School Board.
Middletown - Monroe Superintendent Wayne Driscoll said, "We're not going to give the kids what they want, which is to stay home from school."
The program will include academic classroom instruction and mental health and substance abuse counseling. Students will be picked up from and returned to their homes, Middletown officials said.
While the students are receiving academic credits toward a high school diploma, the program will evaluate them to determine why they engage in disruptive behavior inside and outside school. Through individual and group counseling, the program will try to change the students' attitudes toward school and work.
It will operate 11 a.m.-6 p.m. These later hours will make it easier for parents to participate and keep students off the streets in the afternoon.
A certified teacher will be assisted by volunteer tutors and college interns to assure that students receive the individualized instruction needed.
Besides the commissioners, the two school districts and juvenile court, the county Department of Human Services, the county Alcohol and Drug Addiction Services Board, Middletown and Hamilton police departments and other community organizations helped develop the alternative school program.
The program could help prevent serious many juvenile crimes, Mr. Combs said.
"This will give the kids a taste of the court system before they get into serious trouble," he said. "I can see this program being very successful."
