- November 20, 2024
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The Everest Alternative School, a special program for troubled kids who are unable to function in regular classes or who have criminal records, will close Jan. 16.
“We’re looking at sunsetting Everest as we know it in January, which will save the district dollars,” Assistant Superintendent Jacob Oliva said at a School Board meeting Dec. 17. “The reason we’re doing that is because we added intervention programs at the schools with the philosophy of supporting students in their home-zone schools, where they’ll be most successful.”
Closing Everest will eliminate four staff positions, and the school’s students will return to their home schools.
Everest has at times served up to 60 students, some of them with criminal records. But after voters rejected a proposed 0.5 cent millage property tax for the school district, the school board slashed Everest’s budget 78% in July and began sending Everest students back to their home schools.
The alternative students are in classrooms separate from the rest of the school population, and now just a handful of students attend Everest.
To help former Everest students adjust to returning to traditional schools, the district created special programs at each school, where kids can get extra help, and will also hire a discipline specialist to help ease the transition, Oliva said.
