Preparations are underway to move Beaufort County Schools’ alternative learning program to Southside High School, but only a fraction of the students currently served at the Beaufort County Ed Tech Center will end up in Seahawks country. For some students who are placed in the program for behavioral issues, the move may mean learning at home.

Currently, BCS Superintendent Matthew Cheeseman says there are three school system employees who provide these services throughout the county. Going out into the community, these staff members meet with students in a one-on-one environment, anywhere from once a week to a few times a month, depending on the student’s circumstances. This might take place at a student’s home, a relative’s house or a public library.

“Homebound is really just another educational opportunity, so you’re really helping students who are at risk of potential dropout from not returning to school,” Cheeseman said. “So you’re trying to do more of an outreach to them to meet them where they are.”

For Mac Hodges and Eltha Booth, the two Board of Education members who voted against the move, placing these students in homebound services is cause for concern. Both say these students may need more attention than homebound visits can provide — attention they were receiving at Ed Tech.

“Just making a stop once or twice a week at a home, I don’t think the individual attention that they need is going to get taken care of,” Hodges said. “I am not an educator. I’m just a Board of Education member, and I have an opinion. I’m going to leave it up to the educators and administration to see this thing through, and I’m going to support the decision that has been made. I don’t agree with the decision, but I’m going to support it.”

“There may be some violent students who have gone there, but I’ve never known of any who have caused any violence or disruption at the school,” Booth added. “So I don’t really feel that homebound is going to be a good atmosphere for them. If they have to wait for someone to come to their home to teach them, I have a real concern about those children being in homebound.”

While Cheeseman did not know what percentage of homebound students go on to graduate, he said the program had received positive feedback from previous students and their families.

“Our students and families see success with it, our schools find success with it, our homebound instructors say it’s working, and we see less kids dropping out in that regard,” Cheeseman said. “With that, I’m not sure I would ever put a percentage on it and say ‘You have to meet this threshold to call it success.’ I would say if you’re working individually with students, you’re helping them progress and you’re helping them grow, that’s what I would say the measure of success would be.”

This story is the first of two on the relocation of the school system’s alternative learning program. For a story on the K-5 and 6-8 programs being relocated from Ed Tech, see Tuesday’s edition of the Daily News.