If you care about alternative education in Muscogee, you might want to attend

The Muscogee County School District announced Wednesday a specially called school board work session for Thursday at 5 p.m. to hear the administration present a proposed plan to revise alternative education programs in the district.

No information about the plan or why the work session was called with one-day notice was available from the administration, but a board member shed some light on the situation.

MCSD communications director Valerie Fuller said in the news release, “For more information, attend the meeting, or contact communications@muscogee.k12.ga.us following the special work session.”

The Ledger-Enquirer, however, didn’t wait to seek more information. Muscogee County School Board secretary Karen Jones, who also is superintendent David Lewis’ assistant, told the L-E Wednesday afternoon that she doesn’t have access to the proposal yet and doesn’t know why the work session was called with a one-day notice.

Then in a text message, Lewis told the L-E, “For well over a year, staff and I have been working to research, plan and develop this proposal at a cost that our district can afford. In speaking with Board leadership and based upon a majority of responding board members, it was determined that a special called work session focused solely on the details of this comprehensive proposal was preferable due to the length of the presentation that is anticipated to be an hour and a half to two hours.”

Asked which programs will be discussed and why the urgency of a one-day notice, Lewis responded Wednesday evening.

Laurie McRae, the board’s District 5 representative, told the L-E in a phone interview late Wednesday afternoon that the administration started asking board members last week about their availability for this called work session and didn’t confirm the date until Tuesday afternoon.

McRae said the proposal involves the alternative education program called AIM, which serves students who violate the district’s discipline code and are temporarily removed from their assigned school, and possibly the Woodall Program, which serves students with severe emotional or behavioral disorders. MCSD’s other alternative education programs, the St. Elmo Center for the Gifted and the dropout recovery program called Catapult Academy, aren’t part of the proposal, McRae said.

Monday, MCSD and seven other defendants were sued for $25 million in a personal injury complaint resulting from an incident in the AIM program. The lawsuit was filed in Muscogee County State Court on behalf of the Lawanda Thomas, the mother of Montravious Thomas, whose right leg was amputated below the knee after a contracted behavioral specialist allegedly body-slammed the 13-year-old boy multiple times Sept. 12 in the Edgewood Student Services Center. Edgewood houses AIM and Catapult Academy.

The Woodall Center is among the nine out of 24 facilities in the Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support that the state determined last year to be unfit for those programs. The MCSD board unanimously approved in August the superintendent’s recommendation to transfer the Woodall Program to Davis Elementary School, complying with the state’s order to immediately move those students from the Woodall Center because it was declared unsafe and unhealthy.

“I think they’re trying to find answers to problems that exist,” McRae said. “I think that the time crunch has to do with getting facilities ready if they’re going to start this in the fall.”

The plan wouldn’t create a new site but would renovate an existing one, McRae said, emphasizing she has seen only “parts” of the proposal, then adding, “I think it’s going to be a good thing for the Muscogee County School District if the money turns out OK.”

This story was originally published March 15, 2017 at 3:55 PM with the headline "If you care about alternative education in Muscogee, you might want to attend."