Rapides Parish plans new alternative school

ALEXANDRIA, La. (AP) - A new alternative school may be in the future for Rapides Parish.

On June 17, The Town Talk reports (https://townta.lk/1hxBsoD) Deputy Assistant Superintendent of Administration Clyde Washington plans to propose to the Rapides Parish School Board an attendance-mandatory, high-structure 6-12 grade school for expelled students.

The school could be open by the start of the new school year.

Washington discussed the proposal with the Discipline Policy Review Committee Tuesday.

The school will be called “RAPPS,” or Rapides Alternative Positive Program for Students, and the proposed location is the J.S. Slocum Learning Center in Pineville.

Faculty and staff at Slocum Learning Center are aware of the possible changes in the school, and many have found employment elsewhere in the district.

The school will target students in trouble for “the big three” offenses: drugs, weapons and batteries on school employees. The disciplinary action for those offenses is mandatory expulsion for one semester, which is 85 or 86 days, depending on the semester.

There will be no negative impact on Aiken Virtual School, an alternative school already in place in Alexandria, Washington said.

“Kids are placed (at Aiken) for the big three, and also kids are there through the virtual program,” he said. “If the kid doesn’t attend, he can still (do the work) from home. Not with this program. A lot of kids would do anything to avoid being in school. We can’t reward them like that.”

Transportation to and from school will be provided, either by the Rapides Parish school system or Alexandria Transit. The environment will be strict, and routines will be established early.

“What do you do when you a student can’t read? You teach them,” Washington said. “What do you do when a student doesn’t know how to act? You teach them. We want to develop the whole student.”

Washington said the program will be intense but supportive. Students will work with incentives toward the goal of transitioning back into his or her base school.

“They have to see a light at the end of the tunnel,” Washington said. “We want to show them that this isn’t the kind of place they want to be.”

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Information from: Alexandria Daily Town Talk, https://www.thetowntalk.com