During this same period of time, Helmbrecht was working for his master's degree and eventually obtained his principal's license. They more than exceeded that expectation and amazed those who had funded the program. When the program started there were 50 students. Today more than 130,000 students in the state are in alternative programs. ALCs do not abide by attendance boundaries.
Students can come to the centers from states and countries away, and some do.
Forty-eight percent of the students in Minneapolis pass through alternative programs before graduation. The theory was and is that in placing students into a one-room schoolhouse setting, in which students spend all of their class periods in one room with the same teacher, teaching assistant and 25 other students, they would gain confidence through the closer relationships that developed. AHS students must be in school for at least six hours per day, but the ALC program is only held for four hours per day. ALC students supplement their time with either 10 hours of community service, mainstream classes or by working 15 hours per week in a paying job. The student and teacher need to take one at a time and work through them.