news-record.com

GREENSBORO — A 5-month-old alternative high school lacks a permanent home for its 125 students. And time is running out for Guilford County Schools to find a temporary site by fall.

The Board of Education hesitated Tuesday to follow a staff recommendation that Twilight High School move 20 miles from Smith High School to Northern High School.

The relocation would increase student transportation expenses by about $62,000, or 39 percent, in a time of rising fuel costs.

“I do support the program,” said Darlene Garrett, school board member. “I just don’t think it should be put so far out that it increases our transportation budget. I think it should be more centrally located.”

The school board instead directed district officials to reconsider assigning Twilight students to the SCALE school on Pisgah Church Road. SCALE is an alternative school for students with serious discipline issues who have received long-term suspensions from their home schools.

If approved, Twilight students would use one of two buildings on the site until some SCALE students move to a renovated administrative building on English Road in High Point.

John Morris, chief student services officer, said the approach could work because many SCALE students don’t arrive until the second semester.

But a delay in the February completion of the High Point renovation could cause overcrowding among SCALE and Twilight students on Pisgah Church Road.

The discussion was part of an update on both Twilight and the 100-student High School Ahead Academy at Guilford Middle, two alternative programs the board approved last year to serve at-risk students and drop-outs.

School officials made the following long-term recommendations for the schools: High School Ahead would expand to include seventh through ninth-graders. A second Twilight site in High Point or another area would serve an additional 125 students.

Twilight got booted from Smith this year because the 1,400-student school needs room to accommodate a special academy.

The board also wants to find a separate site for Twilight to save money; an individual school identification number would qualify the district for additional state funding.

In the meantime, Twilight principal Pandora Bell plans to recruit students, even with their classroom locations up in the air.

“What I don’t want to do is lose any of the High Point people,” Bell said. “I want to make it as attractive to them as possible.”

Contact Morgan Josey Glover at 373-7078 or morgan.josey@news-record.com