Linked In Document
- 1. Summary of current Program As a founding staff member of the Floresville Alternative Education Center, I have had the opportunity to be a part of a program which has grown from a one-room facility with 3 staff members, to the innovative model Alternative Education Center of today. Building partnerships and developing Shared Service Arrangement (SSA), with eleven school districts in all or part of five counties, enables our program to meet the needs of the non-traditional student. Our participating districts include: Floresville ISD Poth ISD East Central ISD Runge ISD Falls City ISD Karnes City ISD Kenedy ISD Nixon-Smiley CISD Stockdale ISD Gonzales ISD LaVernia ISD The Alternative Education Center is comprised of a K-12 Disciplinary Alternative Educational Program (DAEP), a Juvenile Justice Alternative Educational Program (JJAEP), and a school of Choice (AEP), where “Highly Qualified” teachers deliver instruction in most courses offered among various districts, ensuring students continue to receive academic support necessary for continued growth. In addition, we have a DAEP Support Center educating students with special needs, an afterschool community service program founded with horticultural service learning projects (STARS), a Level 2 intervention program serving as the bridge between DAEP and JJAEP, a GED Testing Center, and an immunization clinic. The Alternative Center also houses the Wilson County component of the Karnes-Wilson Juvenile Probation Department. Additional program initiatives created by our program include the FISD Police Department, the FISD After-School Program, the Wilson County Garden Days, and the former FISD Day Care Program. We have welcomed scores of visiting school districts, which are interested in our dynamic model and our best practices and have accommodated visits on many occasions. The Alternative Education Center program is made possible through a number of SSAs, Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs), and Inter-Local Agreements. Various presentations addressing program development, operations, best practices and maintenance have been shared at various Texas Association of School Boards (TASB) Leadership and Governance conferences, Pearson Nova Net User Groups, various school district in-service meetings and many civic organizations such as Kiwanis and Lions Club.