Ferndale Alternative High School to be Discussed at Study Session

Ferndale school officials will take a closer look at the district's alternative high school at a study session expected to be held soon.

The Digital Learning Center at 427 Allen, formerly known as the Taft Education Center, opened last fall offering an online-based curriculum with in-person support by academic case managers.

Residents have expressed concerns over incidents at the school including after a student was shot in the leg outside the school in December 2011. In October 2012, several students were arrested after a fight outside the school and a gang-related fight was reported the following week.

More recently, five students were arrested last week after a fight at the school that left one administrator injured.

Ferndale Board of Education president Jim O'Donnell said last week that school board members and administration plan to address concerns about the school at an in-depth study session to be held sometime in the next six weeks.

"Certainly the board is troubled by the fights and other incidents associated with the DLC," O'Donnell said. "Any persistent activity like this would be troubling at any of our schools."

The study session will provide a chance for board members to "get a more detailed idea of the operations of the Digital Learning Center and what some of the problems are there, and what good things are happening also," he said.

"We certainly want to address community concerns, the needs of the students and providing alternative education as part of being a full-service school district," O'Donnell said. "We have to figure out a way to do that that makes sure that the students are safe, the community is safe and that the educational needs of the students are being met."

The meeting will be open to the public and will most likely be held in April. Information that comes up during the study session could be used by various school board committees in formulating possible recommendations that the full school board would ultimately consider, he said.

Closing the school is not an option currently being discussed, O'Donnell said. "What we want to do is make the school work," he said, emphasizing that this means making it "safe for students, the community and meeting the educational needs of the students."