The Late Afternoon Program- New York
The Late Afternoon Program, know as LAP, is the alternative high school program in Longwood Central School district in New York. Our school has 75-80 students who earn their high school diploma in a non-traditional setting. Many of our students come to us behind on credits and are in jeopardy of not graduating within their cohort. Given this, many of our efforts are centered on remediating their needs and get them back on track. We do this through targeted instruction, blended online learning and credit recovery. Since most of our efforts are on required coursework, our students do not have access to the robust offering of electives our traditional high school students. We have implemented monthly ¨boot camps¨ to give our students exposure to elective and career focused skills. We have year offered our students boot camps in cooking, automotive repair, resume writing, financial preparedness, interview practice, and college readiness. So while we are not able to offer a full array of electives, we have been able to expose students to many of the electives offered in traditional school by partnering with our educators and giving our students an intense introduction to the variety of course that are available. This has peaked the interest in many students who now want to attend BOCES or pursue a career they had never know about. Next year we hope to offer exposure to more post-secondary skills.
Student Spotlight- Prestige Academy within the Sewanhaka Central HS District, New York
In the fall of 2024, Ann Antony was enrolled in a class titled Law and Literature from Brown University. The course is part of the National Education Equity Lab, an organization that provides high school students with the opportunity to earn college credits from some of the most prestigious institutions of higher learning in the country. Students studied novels, poetry, legal writings and legal opinions that have collectively shaped our nation’s history, and examined the connection between law and literature. Ann distinguished herself immensely with her interest, knowledge, curiosity, critical thinking skills, and genuine interest in discussing how the legal profession can be advanced to meet the complex needs of society. Ann demonstrated that she is well prepared to handle the most challenging of educational environments. In addition, her exemplary written work throughout the semester was reflective of her outstanding moral compass. She cares deeply about ensuring that the entire population is treated fairly and justly, and afforded the best opportunity to enjoy a profitable and enjoyable life. Ann is an exceptional student who garnered enormous praise for her performance in this incredibly rigorous class.
Garnet Patterson Stay- Program Spotlight
The mental health team at Garnet Patterson Stay provided evidenced based treatment curriculums, Love Is Not Abuse (L.I.N.A.) and Supporting Transition Resilience of Newcomer Groups (S.T.R.O.N.G). Our execution of these EBT's were exemplary social work practice because we maintained a client-centered approach while ensuring our students learned the importance of healthy and unhealthy dating relationships, create healthy boundaries and practice self-love. In addition, STRONG focused on supporting students who are newcomers to this country by concentrating on their adjustment to a new school and country, increase social supports and connections, positive sense of identity and buffering the impact of racism and xenophobia along with coping strategies and problem solving skills. Furthermore, the mental health team offered tier 1 supports by reaching the entire school body with psychoeducation materials through multiple tabling events for domestic violence, mental health awareness and pride month. Moreover, the mental health team recognizes that an essential protective factor against burnout is self-care. Therefore, we created a staff wellness space to provide staff a safe space to reflect, relax and recharge for our alternative educational environment.
Heather Ridge School Builds Stronger Community Ties Through Mental Health Initiative
Heather Ridge School has been actively working to strengthen its partnerships within the community. One of the most impactful collaborations has been with the Department of Aging, focusing on meaningful, service-oriented projects that benefit both students and the broader community.
As part of Mental Health Awareness Month, students created “calm down jars” — simple, hands-on tools designed to support emotional regulation and promote mental wellness. These jars were shared with staff and individuals served by the Department of Aging, offering both a conversation starter around mental health and a tangible coping strategy for moments of loneliness, anxiety, or stress.
The success of this initiative has sparked growing interest across the community. Local churches with mental health-focused classes have requested calm down jars for use in their programs, and additional organizations have reached out to partner with the school. Plans are already underway to expand this initiative during the 2026 school year, creating even more opportunities for students to engage in service learning while promoting wellness in the broader community.
Harrison County Alternative School Earns Prestigious Designation Harrison County School District in Mississippi
We are thrilled to announce that the Harrison County Alternative School has earned the prestigious “Tier I PBIS Model Site in Mississippi” designation! The exciting news came today after REACH MS conducted a thorough evaluation of the campus regarding its School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (PBIS) process. The Alternative School became the first school in the Harrison County School District to receive this distinction and is one of only four Alternative School Tier I PBIS Model Sites in the state.
“I’m so proud of our faculty, staff, and students! There was total buy-in from everyone in such a short amount of time. This is a testament to their dedication to seeing something through from beginning to end,” said Harrison County Alternative School Principal Dr. Christopher Spencer. “My hope is whatever the students learn at the Alternative School, they will utilize it when they return to their home school and throughout life.”
REACH MS Project Director Selina Merrell interviewed Dr. Spencer. She also toured the campus, talked with students and staff, and evaluated classroom activities and procedures to determine whether they supported positive student behavior.
“I’m very impressed with what I have seen, but more importantly, what I felt here. Big shoutout to Dr. Spencer and Dr. Victoria Young (Alternative School PBIS Program Team Leader) for their leadership. The staff shared with me they have noticed changes in the culture of the school and there is collaboration among them. You also have the support from the superintendent and assistant superintendents, which is very important,” said Merrell.
For achieving this distinction, the Alternative School will receive a large banner, special pins, and $500 check. The school will now serve as a PBIS Model Site to inspire other schools to learn about effective processes and systems being implemented to help improve academic and behavioral outcomes for all students.
REACH MS stands for Realizing Excellence for All Children in Mississippi. The federal grant is operated by the University of Southern Mississippi’s School of Education. According to its website, the School-Wide Positive Behavior Intervention and Support (SWPBIS) process is a team-based approach that relies on a strong collaboration between families and professionals. At the school level, SWPBIS relies on accurate and reliable discipline referral data to recognize the behaviors occurring across campus. An analysis of the “Big Five” data (time, location, type of behavior, student, and average referrals monthly) allows the school team to:
Identify appropriate school-wide expectations and rules
Develop a system to teach students appropriate behavior
Create a predictable office discipline referral system so that students can be provided with consistent consequences for behavior violations
Generate a reinforcement system that will increase the likelihood that students will exhibit the expected behavior
Communicate findings to staff, students, and families
Utah's Fundraising Event
Mountain High School represented well in their State of Utah Educators Rising Competition. Per capita, there were more students that qualified from the alternative school in Kaysville than any other school in the state. It wasn’t even close–Mountain High dominated. Below is an email from their club mentor detailing their accomplishments.
"Our students had THE BEST day yesterday. Not only did they represent Mountain High so well, were so kind and supportive to other schools, took care of each other, and had an epic sing along on the way home, 5 of them qualified for Nationals! Here are the standings:
3rd Place - Nora Mohammed and Mia Arias - Project Visualize (Service project)
3rd Place - Sarah Porter - Creative Lecture Ted Talk Style (she had a prompt she had to follow about AI in the classroom).
1st Place in Children's Literature goes to Lexi Wheeler and LJ Leavitt!!!!!!! They had to write the book and illustrate it. I had a judge pull me aside after it was all over and tell me that there was no one even close to Lexi and LJ, that their book was incredible and their presentation of it was out of this world. I may have cried right there on the spot.
I heard these kids say a few times, "See, we are just as good as any other school." These kids, our kids here, have heart and most of them want to be good and do good.
It was a great day. Now, on to Nationals!!"
NAEA Alt. Stars Podcasts
The NAEA is in partnership with schools across the US to bring relevant and necessary best practices to alternative educators and leaders across the country! If you have a best practice you would like to share and join the team on our podcast, please complete the form below.
We are all stronger "Alt. Stars" when we're together!
NAEA'S Summer Webinar: Creating Future Focused Alternative Schools that Reengage and Empower ALL Students
July 23, 2025 at 2:30 CST
Becoming a future-focused Alternative School requires strategic, systemic change. Great leaders are experts on building future-focused systems, but implementing robust instructional strategies for ALL students remains a challenge. In this session, Dr. Peters will share how districts nationwide are using the Five Phases of Systems Transformation to create Future Focused Alternative Schools. He'll showcase best practices for fostering a future-focused vision and culture, redesigning supportive structures and systems, cultivating instructional leadership, and providing classroom-level support in an alternative setting. Participants will assess their current state, identify priorities, and address their latest challenges through guided future-focused activities. By the end of the session, leaders will construct a contextualized action plan prioritizing high-leverage strategies to advance their future-focused journeys.
If you are unable to participate during the live event, no worries, we can email you the recording as a resource!
Click HERE to register!