In 4J, both neighborhood and alternative schools offer a variety of educational programs to meet the diverse needs and interests of our students. School Board policy now requires that alternative school programs be reviewed every five years to ensure the programs continue to serve district goals.

The board on August 17, 2005 adopted a School Choice policy that established a process for the review of alternative schools. In September 2005, the superintendent appointed an alternative schools review team composed of Carl Hermanns, former superintendent intern from the Urban Superintendent Program at Harvard Graduate School of Education; Jerry Henderson, retired principal from South Eugene High School; Ray Gross, retired high school teacher and former president of the Eugene Education Association; and Kay Mehas, director of K-8 school services.

In the 2005-06 school year, four alternative schools were chosen for review: Eastside, Family School, Hillside, and Magnet Arts. In February 2006, the board adopted recommendations related to the first group of elementary alternative schools reviewed under board policy IGBH. The remaining four alternative schools – Buena Vista, Charlemagne at Fox Hollow, Yujin Gakuen, and Corridor – are the subjects of the 2006-07 review report (see PDF files, below). On Dec. 13, 2006, the Review Team submitted its comprehensive and thorough report of findings and conclusions to the board. The superintendent presented his recommendations to the board (see PDF file, below), stemming from the review team's report, on Jan. 10, 2007.

March 2007 update:

On March 7, the board voted on the superintendent's recommendations for alternative school re-reviews for Hillside and Eastside elementary schools.

The board unanimously agreed that Eastside met the need to develop a plan to attract and address the instructional needs of amore diverse student population, including low SES, special education, ELL and students of color.

The board adopted, with a 5-2 vote, a finding that Hillside’s program modification over the last year does not meet the intent of the requirement for program modification to address the key findings of the 2005-06 Alternative School Review Report related to the lack of distinctiveness of its strategy, and direct staff to develop a transition plan for either re-application as a new or different alternative school, merger or closure. The board did not vote to close Hillside, as media reports implied, and Superintendent George Russell will make a recommendation on the future of both Hillside and the co-located Adams Elementary by February 2008.

In the meantime, the distribution of students, and the program offerings of the South Eugene and Churchill regions are part of the "Shaping 4J's Future" planning discussion.

The superintendent's recommendations for Hillside (4J_Hillside_superec_2007.pdf) and Eastside (4J_Eastside_superec_2007.pdf) are available for download below.