Lawrence Alternative High School students say they are worried because they still don’t know details about what will happen next year after their school is closed.

“I’d feel a lot better knowing what I could go to or knowing how I can get my credits,” sophomore Holly Smith said.

Smith came to the alternative high school from Free State High School, where she made D’s and F’s. At LAHS, she makes B’s and C’s, she said, partly because she can work at her own pace and has smaller classes.

The school district plans to close the alternative high school at the end of the year. It will be replaced with a variety of programs offered at Lawrence High School and Free State.

About 80 students attend the alternative high school, and about half will probably graduate in May.

The Lawrence school board and Supt. Randy Weseman met Tuesday with teachers and staff at the school. The meeting did not include students.

Weseman and an administrator probably will meet with LAHS students within the next two weeks, officials said.

Teachers at the meeting said they didn’t know much about plans for next year, either, so it’s hard to comfort their students.

Lawrence Alternative High School sophomore Holly Smith and school board member Cindy Yulich go through the cafeteria line together. Members of the school board ate lunch and met with LAHS staff to discuss next year's student transition back to Free State and Lawrence high schools.

“We tried to be reassuring,” LAHS language arts teacher Lori Stussie said. “Without some kind of concrete answer, we don’t have a lot of credibility with these kids.”

It’s understandable that the alternative high students are worried because they don’t know many details about next year, said school board member Austin Turney.

“It’s important to reassure them that they are not going to just be put into a big high school population,” he said. “They will still have people who will be prepared to understand them and help them.”

District teachers, staff and administrators are planning about 15 options to replace the school. District officials said they would know more details about the replacement programs by March 15. The programs also will be available to students not currently enrolled at LAHS.

The students started signing up last week for next year’s classes at LHS and Free State, and Weseman said the planning for next year was on track.

“We’ve done exactly what we said we were going to do,” he said. “We’re following it to a ‘T.'”

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