Schools

Butler BOE Weighs Benefits of 'Twilight' Program

Board to consider applying for grant for alternative high school program.

The will decide Monday whether to apply for a grant that would help with launching an Interdistrict Public School Choice, or alternative high school, program at If received, the district would be aided in being able to host an after-hours curricular program for students who live within a 15-mile radius of the districts from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. three days a week.

But the benefits of the program may come with a catch if the district decides to use an outside vendor to run the program, Butler Public Schools Superintendent Mario Cardinale said at Thursday night's board of education meeting. An outside company may be able to expand the program to include a higher volume of students than the district would like.

Cardinale said that if the board decides to apply for the grant, which he believed would be non-binding as far as the district having to move forward with the program if received, they are able to specify the maximum number of students the district would like to permit in the program. This could, however, affect whether the district receives the grant.

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The school district also has the option of running an alternative high school program on its own, but would have to fund the program internally.

Cardinale said he would prefer no more than 60 students be involved in the program, 15 per grade level for the four high school grades. He also noted that the program is not for high school dropouts and students who apply to attend must have been enrolled in a regular high school program for that school year.

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The superintendent said he had no preference about whether the board decides to move forward in pursuing the grant or the program.

"We have invested absolutely nothing more than discussion time," he said. "I would be equally happy not submitting it."

The program was originally considered to be a potential revenue-gaining source. If an outside vendor does run the program, the Butler school district will only gain revenue from the program after the vendor has made back the initial investment needed to launch. However, the board's and Cardinale's fears Thursday seemed to be that if the program is sucessful, the outside vendor would want to increase enrollment, possibly to even 300 students, to continue to benefit. At the board's Feb. 27 meeting, one parent seemed concerned about the safety risks associated with students from surrounding towns coming to Butler three nights a week to attend.

"I do not know how you let 300 kids come here and it not interfere with our activities," Board Vice President Tracy Luciani said.

But in terms of a high number of students driving to the alternative high school, Board Member Cynthia Sokoloff said she was not too concerned.

"When we talk about 60 or 100 kids, that's in four grade levels," she said. "(There would be a) much smaller number coming here under their own power. Three of the classes, the students would be too young to drive anyway."

Cardinale also said the district would be able to screen applications for the program and decide not to allow students who have a history of poor performance in school or drug or alcohol use to attend.

The board's Finance Committee heard from Mount Olive Schools Superintendent Dr. Larrie Reynolds, whose district decided to run the same program in-house. Cardinale said Reynolds reported that the initial investment to run the program in Mount Olive will be about $1 million, but that the state is encouraging of districts pursuing the program and grant funding may later be available to those that participate.

Sokoloff saw one benefit of hosting the program in Butler in that the equipment brought in for use in the after-hour classes would also be made available to Butler High School students during the day.

"If they put SMART Boards up in four classrooms that they have to use, they would be available to our students," she said.

Sokoloff praised Cardinale for suggesting the idea, even though the district may not move forward on it.

"This is certainly an alternative revenue source with huge potential, but that doesn't mean we have to do it," she said.

Cardinale told the board he would confirm that the grant application does not obligate the district to pursue the program before Monday night's board of education meeting at 7:30 p.m., where the board will be voting on whether to apply for the grant. The meeting will be held at the Butler High School library.


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