The Seattle School District is forming another community advisory committee, but this time the focus will be on building better alternative education programs, rather than shutting down schools.

The new committee was proposed by the district's chief academic officer, Carla Santorno, and will be charged with advising the School Board on policies and procedures related to alternative schools.

Last year, a short-term School Board's advisory committee formed to develop a definition for alternative education because, although alternative schools have been in the district since the 1960s, there has been no related policies or clear designation of what is meant by alternative education.

Elaine Packard, who has spent her entire professional life in alternative education, chaired that committee and will lead the new group. Now retired, Packard started out a teacher and later became program manager of The Nova Project, a small alternative high school in the district created in 1970 by students and teachers.

The committee could not develop an alternative definition that would encompass the nearly 14 percent of Seattle Public Schools that are non-traditional, because each one is unique and has developed its particular identity by its families and staff, said Packard.

For instance, an African American K-8 is most likely operating under different philosophies than other non-traditional programs, she said.

The School Board adopted an abbreviated definition of the committee's work last spring. The district defines alternative schools as follows:

- Students, families and staff share and support the school's philosophy, values, practices and mission to educate the "whole" child in a community based on a high degree of personalization.

- Program design includes a shared, or democratic, decision making model.

- The program uses a district-approved form of alternative assessment that is tailored to the individual student and avoids grades or marks that compare and stratify students.

- Curriculum is guided by the strengths, style and needs of the individual students.

- The program includes a focus on social justice and equity by actively recognizing the talents and hopes of all students and actively addresses issues of discrimination.

But schools now called "alternative" might not actually fall under the new definition, so Packard hopes the new committee can begin evaluating each individual school.

"Unless we begin to use the operational definition we haven't made any steps forward," said Packard. "We've really done nothing but create paper documents"

The committee also found that very few of the alternative schools that existed decades ago are still around. In the 1960s nearly every traditional high school had its own alternative school within a school.

Each has a similar story.

Historically, students in alternative schools have been stigmatized for being different. Sometimes, especially at the high school level, they are seen as dropout schools.

When alternative schools operate within a traditional model, the principal is forced to manage two different schools, often with two different philosophies. Over the years, as new principals came in, alternative schools began to adopt more traditional models, said Packard.

"You need the right administrator dedicated to alternative education, or an alternative school cannot survive," she said.

Alternative schools in the district have a rocky history, but the School Board has made efforts to support alternative programs. The policy adopted last spring by the board commits the district to offering alternative education programs as well as traditional.

The board has also said strong alternative programs are essential to the academic achievement of students because generally those programs put more emphasis on experiential learning and character development rather than test scores.

Most of the alternative schools in the district have had historically long waiting lists, so creating similar programs could be used to boost district enrollment, which has fallen sharply in the last few decades.

But some recommendations from the district during the school closure process do not appear to be supportive of alternative education, such as Superintendent Raj Manhas' failed proposal to merge the alternative Pathfinder program with the traditional Cooper School.

"I don't think either school would have survived to be effective," said Packard. "New schools form out of similarities, not differences and a willingness not a mandate."

With school closures, financial troubles and a national search underway to replace Manhas, who announced he'd be leaving the district at the end of the school year, Packard said she's concerned that alternative education isn't a top priority in the district.

"The politics in this school district are just at a fever pitch right now and that makes it really hard," she said.

School Board member Sally Soriano said there could be some leftover sentiment from former superintendent Joseph Olchefske who didn't support alternative schools. But, she said, the district views alternative and traditional schools as equally important.

"The uniqueness of the (alternative) programs really help students with certain personalities," said Soriano, "such as those that don't learn well when there is more pressure placed on academic competition. But we see a uniqueness in all schools, it's how to keep them flourishing is the question."

As well as advise the School Board on alternative school procedures, Packard said she hopes the new committee can begin the process of creating more alternative schools, especially at the middle school level.

The district does not currently have an alternative education director, so the work of short-term committees has been key in sustaining non-traditional programs in the district.

"We talk about democracy in history class but we don't give students the opportunity to act it out or participate," said Packard. "The point of alternative schools is to develop the whole child, emotionally, academically and socially. It's integrating all of those - that's how they grow - you give them real problems to solve."

Rebekah Schilperoort can be reached via wseditor@robinsonnews.com