NJ-SP Board Studies Alternative School

Superintendent Lynn Johnson
Superintendent Lynn Johnson
North Judson-San Pierre school officials like the idea of the proposed Crossing alternative school but aren’t quite ready to commit to it. Superintendent Lynn Johnson says Knox and Oregon-Davis are also looking at the hybrid program for students who have fallen through the cracks.

“It’s really to focus on kids who have dropped out of school. The cost is really their enrollment, their ADM, Annual Daily Membership, we get for them re-enrolling at our school. They would be our students on paper, but they would go to The Crossing,” said Johnson.

Johnson says the corporation is looking at youngsters who might be good candidates for this type of learning environment.

“We do have the list of the kids who have dropped out of school. We’re hoping that some of them would take advantage of this. It’s kind of a last-resort effort, but they do get their high school diploma,” Johnson said.

Johnson adds the target enrollment number for NJ-SP is 10 students and says she’s not sure if that’s possible.

“It is very small. The ratio is 7 to 1 as far as teachers and kids. The reason we need to have a commitment to the number is because they hire teachers according to the number of students they have,” said Johnson.

Johnson and the school corporation’s attorney are still working out the details. The board authorized her to continue negotiations and keep them apprised.