The alternative school within the Bowling Green Independent School District is reinventing itself with a new name and location.

Principal Brandon Blake hopes the new Compass Academy and the changes it brings will better help students chart their academic journeys.

“It’s about them owning and developing that path,” Blake said of the program’s approach, which aims to help students find their talents.

Additionally, the alternative school recently moved from its previous location on 11th Street. Its new home is the Bowling Green Learning Center in the old Dishman-McGinnis Elementary School at 503 Old Morgantown Road.

After the school saw an enrollment spike last year, Blake said it started considering a move to a bigger facility with more programming space. Starting next year, the school will be able to benefit from the center’s gymnasium, cafeteria and green space.

According to the Kentucky Department of Education, alternative education programs exist to meet the needs of students that can’t be met in traditional classrooms. Assigning students to alternative classrooms, centers or campuses are meant to remediate academic performance, improve behavior or provide enhanced learning experiences.

Blake expects the school to start in the fall with between 40 and 50 students. He said those students will benefit from an academy informed by the state’s best alternative schools.

Blake said school officials have visited alternative schools named by the state as schools of distinction, including Covington Independent Public Schools.

“They are diverse as the communities that you go to,” Blake said of the experience.

Blake said school officials started looking for trends across the schools they visited to inform changes to their program.

The new Compass Academy will emphasize small class sizes, a personalized curriculum and instruction influenced by students’ traumatic experiences, among other priorities.

Blake said the school is also developing community partnerships to increase educational opportunities. That includes partnering with Western Kentucky University researchers who’ve developed an evidence-based mentorship program, for example.

The school is focusing on preparing students for the professional world, Blake said, not just taking a punitive approach. In fact, Blake added, many students self-refer into the alternative school. Anxiety issues or other factors can make a traditional middle or high school setting less desirable for them, he said.

D.G. Sherrill, BGISD’s director of pupil personnel, shares that view. He said the changes to the school are motivated by the district’s desire to serve all students regardless of their academic needs.

“It gives them another option for their education,” he said.