Alternative education in the Lansing School District is changing.

In a special meeting Monday, the school board voted for a plan that cuts the alternative high school inside the Hill center, in favor of an online-based curriculum which will be set up in each high school building.

"Going forward education will be driven by technology," Superintendent T.C. Wallace said.

Wallace said the program allows students to have more flexibility and more opportunity for electives within the district or even at LCC if they so choose.

"We think it will give them a better well-rounded education at the end of the day," he said.

But teachers, who have been opposed to this idea from day one, say moving students back to traditional high schools is not the way to go.

"Now they are moving them back into schools where they didn't succeed in the first time, then sitting them in front of a computer for four hours and ask them to perform."

Board members had their own concerns.

"Where will the child care options be?" Shirley Jones asked the Administration Monday.

The vote failed 4-4 at a July first meeting, but the return of one more board Monday made all the difference.

The questions now shift to logistics. There are 266 students enrolled in Education Options here at the Hill center, but at least for the first semester, there will be fewer than 200 spots available in the new program.

Sexton will set up its program by September, Eastern and Everett will by January. Those closest to graduation will get the nod first, while the others...

"They'll wait for second semester," Wallace said.

Outside contractor Advance Path Academics will set up the program inside the high schools for five years at $2.7 million per year.

Other questions remain, where will the alternative ed students be separated at each site, and where will child care will be provided?

The administration still has to work that out.

They will try to recruit more students to the program. A person will be hired full-time to literally go door-to-door to try to get students who have completely dropped out, back to school.