By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

Nakina Alternative School, which opened in the spring of 1998, will not be an alternative school when the 2007-08 school year begins in August.
Instead, each high school in the county will operate a separate afternoon or “twilight” school for students who would have normally been sent to Nakina.

Columbus County Schools Superintendent Dan Strickland said his board had approved the school-within-a-school concept, effectively ending Nakina’s nearly decade-long run as a state-mandated school for students with discipline or attendance problems.

Strickland said the alternative school concept had not been as effective as educators had hoped. Most students sent to Nakina rarely returned to their home schools and if they did, they either dropped out or eventually found their way back to Nakina.

Strickland said that the new plan for on-site alternative programs is part of the county’s redesign of its high schools.

With West Columbus High School in low-performing priority school status with the state, and East Columbus High School in danger of being labeled as the same, Strickland said that changes have to be made to satisfy both state and federal requirements.

Strickland said that part of the state’s high school reform movement is to redesign the alternative school concept.

The state first mandated alternative schools more than a decade ago.

Columbus County implemented its alternative school several years prior to the Whiteville City School’s creation of North Whiteville Academy.
New federal guidelines emphasize more inclusion of students classified as exceptional. A significant portion of the students enrolled at Nakina have been exceptional.

Nakina has had a tough time holding on to its exceptional children’s (EC) teachers.

Statewide, EC teachers are hard to find and to retain. Teaching exceptional children who are also discipline problems makes the task more difficult.

Plans are for each high school alternative program to have one EC teacher and two regular classroom teachers.

Administrators are not sure how they will find three EC teachers willing to work in such a challenging environment.

Strickland said the twilight model for the school is being used by several other school systems in the state. The schools will determine the names for their programs.

Twilight schools are intended for students whose conduct and attendance patterns create ongoing problems for teachers and their classmates. The behavior of such students can pose a threat to a school and classroom environment being conducive to learning.

Potential candidates for twilight schools include unmanageable students from within the school, and those reentering the school system from various juvenile justice agencies.

Twilight schools will be in session every weekday, beginning just prior to the regular school’s fourth period.

Students take three one-hour classes or two 90-minute classes and earn academic credit. Class sizes are small, seldom larger than 20 students. Academic achievement is emphasized in the twilight school.

Students receive ongoing counseling from their counselors or mentors, the school psychologists or the school social workers as needed.

Strickland said the alternative program staff members can also work with the regular school as needed.

He emphasized that alternative school students will remain isolated from the other students with no interaction allowed.

As for the fate of the Nakina Alternative School building, that will be determined by the school board.

Strickland said many ideas are being offered as uses for the building, including some type of engineering and math-centered school or a school with emphasis on the arts.

Another possibility has Nakina as a middle school for the students at Old Dock and Guideway elementary schools

“Guideway and Old Dock are at their max,” Strickland said. “We’re seeing a lot of development in the southern end of the county.”

Of the 43 students enrolled so far this school year at Nakina, 26 actively attend classes. Eleven dropped out. Three returned to their original schools and three transferred to other school districts.

The numbers are down. In years past, year-long enrollment has been as high as 96 students with as many as 45 students actively attending classes.