Alternative schools offer these students a way to continue their education in an environment geared to meet their physical, intellectual and emotional needs. Additional support is given to students' families as well in an effort to improve the home environment. So far this year, in the seven centers in Broward County, we're serving almost 2,000 kids who potentially would have dropped out. Dilgen said that Broward's alternative schools are nurturing and supportive. There's a very special kind of population that teaches there.
Students enter alternative programs in one of two ways.
They are either referred by their home school or enter the program voluntarily. Some are expelled from traditional schools. Most of the alternative schools use a point system whereby students work their way up and out of the school, ultimately returning to their home schools. Students at Cypress Run are referred there for infractions such as fighting or skipping class. Cypress Run also accepts students who have been expelled.