TIFTON — Tift County Schools is looking to make a few revisions to their alternative education programs.

Dr. Michael Slaven, Tift County Schools assistant superintendent for Beyond the Core, came before the Board of Education March 11 with an update on these programs, which are employed in cases of students being unable to attend normal education for various reasons, and plans on how to move forward with them in the upcoming school year.

Slaven explained that the current alternative school models of the school system made use of three institutions to assist students — Sixth Street Academy, which was meant for students who had committed an infraction serious enough that they needed to be removed from a traditional classroom environment, Tift Cyber School, utilized by students struggling to balance school commitments with work or home lives, and Horizon Academy, meant for students with disabilities and emotional behavioral issues.

Across the last year, Sixth Street had served around 169 students, he noted, but currently had fewer than 9 in attendance, while the school’s virtual program had 94 in attendance and Horizon only had 16.

Slaven stated that his department had already begun conducting research into how to improve the programs moving forward for the coming school year and had identified a few problems in need of addressing.

This included an overlap in services and positions offered by multiple institutions like two schools each having a counselor, limitations to the criteria for attending an alternative school model that did not accommodate certain needs or preferences of students, and an issue with students ending up as repeat attendees of Sixth Street, with some even needing to return to the school three times.

Slaven stressed the need for establishing consequences and interventions at the academy, as well as an alternative course of action if the school system could not provide the services necessary to remedy the behavior.

In formulating a plan for the 2025-26 school year, Slaven reported that he had studied the alternative school models of eight other districts, and had worked with his department to develop a proposition that would streamline the program and improve how it could support the students of the school system.

He stated that the three programs would be united under a single umbrella and would work in collaboration with one another through sharing staff and services. Tift Cyber School would be renamed Blue Devil Academy, and would serve as a support system for Horizon and Sixth Street, offering a virtual education for the middle and high school students of the two academies to take advantage of.

Additionally, Sixth Street’s social-emotional programs would be updated and supported with mentor programs and transition plans to reintegrate students back into their base schools, and both it and the virtual program would begin implementing CTAE, life management, and college and business prep courses.

Slaven asserted that the structural programming and resources for Sixth Street had been finalized, but they were still working on an application form for the Blue Devil Academy and ironing out schedules for the academies and professional development plans for the alternative school models.