School districts confer on alternative education programs

At a July 17 Nixon-Smiley CISD school board meeting, the district opted to include an option for a level 3 agreement to surrounding school districts in addition to the original memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed back in 2016 as part of NSCISD’s implementation of a Discipline Alternative Education Program (DAEP).

In January 2016, NSCISD voted to start a DAEP in Smiley. At the program’s inception, Cuero, Gonzales, La Vernia, Marion, Waelder and Yorktown school districts signed a MOU to join the program. Of those, Cuero, Gonzales, La Vernia and Nordheim (who joined in 2017) signed an MOU with a level 3 agreement for the 2017-18 school year.

NSCISD Superintendent Cathy Lauer explained that a level 3 agreement is an extended day DAEP placement that can be used for disciplinary offenses that are a notch up from the regular DAEP.

Districts who signed an MOU without the level 3 agreement for the 2017-18 school year include Marion, Waelder, Yorktown and Poth (who also joined in 2017).

“Some districts did not feel a current need for that level,” Lauer said. “If they have a student who reaches that level of consequences, they will either expel [the student] completely or find a JJAEP (Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Program).

“For Nixon and Gonzales we preferred the option of still having the student in school and did not want to incur the cost of the Wilson County JJAEP that we used to use.”