For the upcoming school year, Union Success Academy will not be housing any students.
Columbus Municipal School District’s alternative school program, which is the only program that was still operating out of the building, is moving to an addition at Cook Elementary.
Superintendent Stanley Ellis said the move is a part of the district’s strategic plan through 2027.
“We said that we were going to be trimming that fat,” Ellis told The Dispatch on Friday. “So, as we begin the transition and look into doing the things that we have to do in accordance with our strategic plan in the next year or two, this is going to help us start to move in that direction.”
The district’s alternative school program is a less restrictive learning environment where students from any grade level have more one-on-one time with their teachers. The program is intended to help students with behavioral modification.
Ellis said the program usually has around 20 students and rarely more than 30 at a time.
“Typically it’s for students who have behavioral issues in the traditional class or the traditional school setting,” he said. “They’re placed there for a period of time. Typically a student is there for at least 45 days.”
In May, Ellis told The Dispatch the strategic plan included eventually consolidating all elementary operations into three campuses, Cook, Sale and Stokes-Beard elementaries. The plan also calls for converting from the current magnet program to grade-span learning, meaning each campus will house certain grades.
Ellis said then that Franklin Academy and Fairview Elementary, the two schools that will close, would be repurposed by the district. The same will go for Union Success Academy, Ellis said, though he isn’t sure yet what the new purpose will be.
“As of now, it is supposed to still be used,” he said. “I’m not absolutely sure what that’s going to look like, but they will plan on using that building.”
Ellis said he doesn’t anticipate housing alternative school students at the Cook will be a problem. Students in the program are supervised, he said.
“It’s never been an issue,” he said. “They’ve got teachers there, they’ve got (school resource officers) and they’ve got an administrator, so it’s never been an issue.”
The current Union Success Academy was built in 1962 on the same site as the former Union Academy, which was built in 1903. The school housed first-sixth-grade students until it closed in 2008.
Before it was moved to Union, the district’s alternative school was at the former Hunt High School campus. After an EF-3 tornado damaged the building’s roof and windows in 2019, alternative school students were moved to Union Success Academy.
Ellis noted newer facilities at Cook as one reason to relocate Union Success Academy there instead of the high school. The addition to Cook that will house the program was built in 2010.
“The area is relatively new,” he said. “When we looked at the compositions of the building, it seemed to kind of meet the needs.”
Cook Principal Tiffiney Weddle said she sees the relocation as a benefit for students in the alternative school program.
“The facilities are upgraded and relatively new,” she wrote in an email to The Dispatch. “The students will also have more advanced technology at their fingertips.”
While classes previously held in Annex Hall did have to be moved, Weddle said the transition from Union to Cook has gone smoothly so far.
Teachers in the school district started returning to their classrooms Tuesday, while students will return Thursday.
“As with any school year and changing enrollment, there may be shifts in locations of grade levels, teachers and students,” she said. “This transition was planned to minimize or eliminate disruption to ongoing activities and to prepare the space adequately for everyone.”
McRae is a general assignment and education reporter for The Dispatch.
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