If it were not for Journey, my child may not have stayed in school and graduated at all. Now she is going to college and working. I thank God for alternative schools and hope they can keep their funding...

This is the second time I have attempted to post this comment... "The state is in the process of changing that system to keep alternative schools from losing their funding, recognizing they serve a purpose, said Ludington Area Schools Superintendent Cal DeKuiper. Students in alternative schools likely will be counted with their original school district as schools have requested." “It’s a great solution, exactly what we’ve been asking for,” DeKuiper said. “It would leave (Journey) open and allow it to run as it is.” The above quotes bother me enough to post this comment..... I am appalled at Mr. DeKuiper's lack of concern for a system that is not working. He thinks it is a good idea to change the rules so as to continue funding for a program which has not met the Adequate Yearly Progress for two consecutive years "Journey Alternative School". I think the fact that Journey has not met the ATP for two consecutive years and Mr Dekuiper wants to keep it that way is hardly a "great solution" as he states. It also shows how he feels about our future adults in this community. As a custodian of the children of our schools I would think he would want them to gain as much "good" education as they can. That does not seem to be the case. I feel that the children are being cheated of a good education by this action. Mr DeKuiper appears to only be concerned with the funding and not what he should be concerned with, our children getting a quality education. For the most part I am not a fan of alternative education such as Journey. Mainly because they teach our future adults that they do not have to follow the rules of society. They do not have to learn to get a long with others and take responsibility for their own actions in the educational process. Another reason I am not for these schools is, the reports from students at Journey who do wish to acquire a diploma, of the laxity of discipline in the classrooms. Students are allowed to talk and disrupt the classes with no consequences by the teachers. Again this shows a lack of responsibility on the part of the teacher and demonstrates to the "students" they do not have to respect others who are trying to improve themselves. Where is our responsibility to the future generations if we do not teach them to deal with things they do not like ??? How can we expect a better world to live in if we do not set higher standards ??? By changing the rules for Journey to keep the financing we are only showing the students that we do not really care whether they get a quality education. We are only concerned with how it will look on paper. How will it look on paper when the students try to get a "quality" job but do not have the appropriate knowledge because "we changed the rules" so they can graduate without a quality education. By the lack of comments here it does not appear that too many people have thought about this issue. Or with the holiday weekend maybe they have not read the article.