Alternative School Considered for Starke County Students

Superintendent A.J. Gappa
Superintendent A.J. Gappa
Knox Community School Superintendent A.J. Gappa presented some information to the school board last week about The Crossing alternative school.

Gappa said that The Crossing is a second chance program to get students involved in school.

“It’s a second chance-type program for kids who have either dropped out, or moved on to home school or gone on to some online program that’s not really working out for them,” stated Gappa. “These kids could have had a problem with the school in the setting they were in or they have other problems at home that can be dealt with. The Crossing itself is an accredited alternative school that was created to support public schools. They have 34 different public school corporations they’re working with across the state.”

Gappa noted that Knox would not be the only school corporation in Starke County participating in this program.

“It sounds like a viable alternative for students in Starke County who have gone by the wayside. We’re not looking at it just for Knox. We have had meetings with the other schools in the county – North Judson-San Pierre, Oregon-Davis and Culver. They all have students coming from Starke County. We’re looking at possibly setting up a Starke County Crossing Alternative Program.”

All of the schools would have a certain number of seats in the program.

Gappa said this was for information for the board only, but the corporation will continue to pursue efforts to bring this program into Starke County.