By ADAM ARMOUR

Staff Writer

Itawamba County's alternative school is off to a strong start.

Currently, 55 students attend the school as part of their daily schedules, filling several classrooms in Fulton's old grammar school building. Many of these students are participants in the county's new Fast Track program, designed to help students who have fallen several grade levels behind to catch up in time for high school.

At its heart, the alternative school is a place for second chances. An expansion the former disciplinary school/GED program, the alternative school opened its doors for the first time this semester with former IAHS principal Michael Nanney serving as program administrator. The school still houses the Itawamba County school district's disciplinarian school, but it also has a second purpose: To help struggling students receive an education.

Educators at the school attempt to accomplish this through several programs, including the school's pre-GED and GED courses, Fast Track and Credit Recovery programs.

"We've really tried to keep students motivated and see what their goals are," Nanney said. "We're trying to help our students keep their sights on those goals."

The school currently operates under the guidance of nine people: Four regular education teachers, a counselor, administrator, two special needs teachers and a teacher's aid. The school has a very intimate feel, primarily because of its small size. Nanney's office is also the school store, and he speaks with every student who walks through its door.

Currently, 15 students are attending the school's GED program, with six ready to take the high school equivalence exam. Similarly, the school's pre-GED program is expected to seat 15 students by the end of the year.

But, it's the Fast Track program that had Nanney most excited before the school opened, and most satisfied now that it's up and running.

Designed to help students who have fallen one or two years behind in elementary or middle school, the program essentially allows seventh grade students to compress both their seventh and eighth grade years into one, thereby catching up with their graduating class just in time for high school. The program focuses on reading, language, math, science and social studies, covering the curriculum in those five courses in order to pass to the next level.

Currently, there are 18 students participating in the program, working on their seventh grade courses this semester in preparation for their eighth grade courses the next. The program is supposed to help lift students who may have fallen through the cracks, catching them before they choose to drop out of school altogether.

According to Nanney, getting the program up and running has been a learning process for all involved, but it has been successful so far.

"Those classrooms can't be run like a regular classroom," Nanney said of the program. "These students have been in a regular classroom, and that environment didn't work for them, so we've had to do some modifications to the classroom setting."

Elaborating on his statement, Nanney said most of the alternative school's classrooms have a stricter set of rules than the average class, especially in terms of attendance.

"Attendance is a big problem for many of these students -- it's the reason many of them wound up here in the first place. We try to stay on top of attendance and work with the parents to ensure their children are in class."

Students are rewarded for good attendance, receiving free items from the school store and the like, while students who begin missing school may lose privileges.

Additionally, Nanney and the rest of the alternative school educators find that helping students through social problems is a large part of their jobs.

"We're not really dealing with seventh graders in our Fast Track program. We're dealing with 15 and 16 year olds -- teen-agers. Trying to help with the social issues they face is a big part of our job here."

Although the school has faced no major problems so far, Nanney is anticipating improvements nonetheless. He hopes to see the Fast Track program expand to include grades other than just seventh as early as next year and is eager to bring more students to the credit recovery program.

As of now, however, Nanney finds satisfaction in knowing the alternative school is helping students across the county.

"What we're finding with these Fast Track and alternative GED programs, is that we're catching some of the kids who would have eventually come to the alternative school for disciplinary problems," he said. "We hope this program is not only helping those students who are here, but it is also helping those teachers back at the other local schools by taking care of some of those students' issues here rather than in the classroom."

Adam Armour can be reached at 862-3141 or by e-mailing adam.armour@itawamba360.com.