Sullivan County Seeks $371,000 For Alternative School

Sullivan County educators plan to ask the County Commission today for permission to spend $371,000 of its budget surplus so they can start a program Bristol, Va., has had for the past 10 years.

Board of Education Chairman Ron Smith said the school system has been working for the past two years to start an alternative school. He said the programs help students at risk of not graduating on time due to behavioral problems, giving them a place where they can focus on their studies and get their diplomas.

“[An alternative school is] an alternative program designed to meet the needs of our students who may not be successful in a traditional program,” said Patricia Bowers, the director of student services and special education at the Bristol, Va., school system.

Bristol, Va., schools have operated the Crossroads Alternative School on the campus of Virginia High School since 1998. Bowers said the program is open to 9th through 12th graders and typically enrolls 12 students at a time.

She said one teacher and one aide work at the school full time, while other teachers rotate through the program, offering courses as needed.

“A lot of the curriculum depends on what the individual student needs,” Bowers said, adding that students can be taught one-on-one or clustered into groups, depending on their strengths and weaknesses.

She said an alternative school’s biggest advantage is in helping to improve a school system’s graduation rates. Smith said that was why Sullivan County school administrators have been trying to set up their own program.

The program, he said, would be hosted at the old Gunnings School building in Blountville, Tenn. It needs the $371,000 this year to pay teacher salaries and cover other projected program costs.

Director of Schools Jack Barnes had included the money in a draft of this year’s budget that he presented the county commission’s Budget Committee last month. The county school system has been operating on a continuing budget resolution since the fiscal year officially began on July 1.

Budget Committee members rejected Barnes’ $91.4 million spending plan over concerns it drew heavily on the school system’s fiscal reserves. The plan proposed spending $2.6 million of the $6 million currently in those accounts.

Budget committee members told Barnes to reduce the budget’s draw on the reserves to $1.5 million. To meet that goal, Barnes said he was forced to cut money for the alternative school.

“We’ve got a pretty lean budget,” Barnes said. “If we had the funding [for an alternative school] or that funding was made available to us, then we would have it.”

Smith said a group of county educators asked the Budget Committee at its Sept. 4 meeting to let the county use its fiscal reserves to pay for the alternative school. He said that, even if the alternative school is funded, the school system will have $500,000 more in its reserves than what the state recommends.

He said they plan to make a similar request when the full county commission votes on this year’s budget at its next meeting at 9 a.m. Monday in the old county courthouse.

“We’re going to push [for an alternative school] until the very end,” he said. “Hopefully we’re going to be able to get some money for it.”

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