AKRON -ÊDr. Karen Boling, Tippecanoe Valley School Corp. superintendent, on behalf of the Alternative Education Program committee, will recommend to the school board on March 10 that the program be housed at Burket Elementary School.

Burket students and staff will be moved to Mentone Elementary School under the plan, if approved.

At a special meeting Thursday held at Valley's middle school, several dozen parents spoke out against the school being "ripped out" of the community.

One parent said when it comes to discipline, "discipline starts at home. It's not the community's problem." The school board decided to have this alternative education program, but what did the community decide, he asked? The program will be for a small percentage of students and inconvenience a greater number. To him, he said, this makes no sense.

Mike Overmyer, high school principal, responded by saying the kids who attend the program go voluntarily. "This is not a disciplinary program." If that were the case, it wouldn't be as successful as it is in other school corporations. "The community I came from, this was a welcome relief." In five years at the previous community he worked in, Overmyer said, they had only two kids who wanted to return to the high school because they favored the alternative program.

"Seeing those kids graduate, seeing those kids being successful was very gratifying to me as an educator," he said.

One parent said, as far as Burket school went, the school corporation might as well send a letter in May saying they were going to close Burket because "you already made your mind up." The comment generated the first of several rounds of applause.

Terry Rockhill generated another round from the parents when she said it was important for parents to keep their students in the best possible school and they, as parents, feel that school is Burket.

At Mentone Elementary, Boling said, the students won't get a lesser education.

"It's not all negative and all positive in utilizing Burket," she said. The best solution for the program, the committee felt, was Burket. "We feel like we're offering opportunities to kids who don't have opportunities."

Before school started this year, Boling said, the school board decided the corporation needed an alternative education program. A committee of administrators, board members, counselors, teachers, a parent and two students met over the next sixth months to work on such a program. They met for the last time a couple weeks ago, felt they completed the task and now are ready to make a recommendation to the school board.

When determining a location for the program, their criteria included no or minimal cost impact to the school corporation; flexibility in space; readily available access to technology; availability of community service opportunities; adequate parking and safety for students; separate identity as a school; facility meets building code; and year-round availability.

The sites the committee looked at included: Mentone Elementary School; a modular classroom; Burket Elementary School; Yellow Creek Church campground; the old Bell Library at Mentone; moving the central office to Mentone and housing the program at the current central office location; include the program in the high school building project; or move the sixth grade middle school students back to the elementary school and house the alternative education in sixth grade wing at the middle school.

Burket Elementary met all the criteria..

Rockhill asked if all the parents show up at the March 10 school board meeting at Mentone Elementary School and adamantly opposed the plan, if the school board was going to listen to them.

"Do we stand any chance of keeping our school open?" she asked.

Boling replied that in terms of her recommendation to the school board, the committee met for six months and housing the alternative education program at Burket was their decision.

"For me not to recommend what the committee came up with would be wrong on my part," she said.

When asked how many students would be involved in the program, Boling said they had about 79 names of students from the middle and high schools who were candidates for the program.

Parent Mary Hardesty said she didn't even know the school corporation was making such a decision until about a week ago when she heard it from students at a skating party. There are many issues the parents need to think about, she said, and they all won't be in agreement on the issue, but they "haven't had enough time to think about this."

The school corporation has made efforts to inform everyone about what is going on through various means, but they obviously haven't worked. "We'd like to know how the best way is to get the word out," Boling said.

Another parent said he has heard for some time Burket Elementary School will be closed, but he's tired of his children going to a dilapidated school. He said it will anger him if they put the alternative program in Burket and then update the building while they never updated Burket while his own kids were there.

"They'll put money into an alternative school," said another parent, "but they won't put money into Burket."

Another patron said Burket Elementary School needed to remain an elementary school. "I believe it's keeping the community together as a whole," she said.

When asked about funding for the program, Boling said the program only would have four personnel - Director Cheryl Meyers, an emotionally-handicapped teacher, a mental health therapist and a behavior coach. There also may be a secretary and custodian. For equipment, since the North Central Indiana Cooperative is decentralizing, Tippecanoe Valley will get some of the existing equipment and use that. Also, instead of paying more than $400,000 per year to the cooperative, the school cooperation can use that money for the alternative education program.

"We don't anticipate spending much money at all," Boling said. As for the building, she said there are no plans to update it at all and don't have to bring the building up to secondary education standards since they will not be serving lunch. [[In-content Ad]]