SECTIONS 58500-58512 - California Statutes

EDUCATION CODE

SECTION 58500-58512

58500. The governing board of any school district may establish and
maintain one or more alternative schools within the district.
For the purposes of this article, an alternative school is defined
as a school or separate class group within a school which is
operated in a manner designed to:
(a) Maximize the opportunity for students to develop the positive
values of self-reliance, initiative, kindness, spontaneity,
resourcefulness, courage, creativity, responsibility, and joy.
(b) Recognize that the best learning takes place when the student
learns because of his desire to learn.
(c) Maintain a learning situation maximizing student
self-motivation and encouraging the student in his own time to follow
his own interests. These interests may be conceived by him totally
and independently or may result in whole or in part from a
presentation by his teachers of choices of learning projects.
(d) Maximize the opportunity for teachers, parents and students to
cooperatively develop the learning process and its subject matter.
This opportunity shall be a continuous, permanent process.
(e) Maximize the opportunity for the students, teachers, and
parents to continuously react to the changing world, including but
not limited to the community in which the school is located.

58501. The following notice shall be sent along with the
notification of parents and guardians required by Section 48980:

"Notice of Alternative Schools

California state law authorizes all school districts to provide
for alternative schools. Section 58500 of the Education Code defines
alternative school as a school or separate class group within a
school which is operated in a manner designed to:
(a) Maximize the opportunity for students to develop the positive
values of self-reliance, initiative, kindness, spontaneity,
resourcefulness, courage, creativity, responsibility, and joy.
(b) Recognize that the best learning takes place when the student
learns because of his desire to learn.
(c) Maintain a learning situation maximizing student
self-motivation and encouraging the student in his own time to follow
his own interests. These interests may be conceived by him totally
and independently or may result in whole or in part from a
presentation by his teachers of choices of learning projects.
(d) Maximize the opportunity for teachers, parents and students to
cooperatively develop the learning process and its subject matter.
This opportunity shall be a continuous, permanent process.
(e) Maximize the opportunity for the students, teachers, and
parents to continuously react to the changing world, including but
not limited to the community in which the school is located.
In the event any parent, pupil, or teacher is interested in
further information concerning alternative schools, the county
superintendent of schools, the administrative office of this
district, and the principal's office in each attendance unit have
copies of the law available for your information. This law
particularly authorizes interested persons to request the governing
board of the district to establish alternative school programs in
each district."

Further, a copy shall be posted in at least two places normally
visible to pupils, teachers, and visiting parents in each attendance
unit for the entire month of March in each year.

58502. The parent or guardian of any pupil may request the
governing board of a school district to establish an alternative
school program or programs in the district pursuant to this chapter.

58503. Teachers employed and students enrolled in the alternative
school shall be selected entirely from volunteers.

58504. Previous classroom performance shall not be a criterion
limiting any student from the opportunity of attending an alternative
school.

58505. A district may establish alternative schools in each
attendance area or on a districtwide basis, with enrollment open to
all students districtwide, or any combination thereof.

58507. Alternative schools shall be operated in a manner to
maximize the opportunity for improvement of the general school
curriculum by innovative methods and ideas developed within the
alternative school operation and to improve the general level of
education in the State of California as provided in Section 58510.
Any alternative school shall be maintained and funded by the
school district at the same level of support as other educational
programs for children of the same age level operated by the district.

58509. For the operation of alternative schools as herein defined,
the Superintendent of Public Instruction may, upon application of a
school district, waive any provisions of this code other than those
relating to earthquake safety and the provisions of this chapter.

58510. Each district operating an alternative school shall annually
evaluate such school. The evaluation shall include testing of basic
skills for student participants, and must identify the variables
which may have affected student academic achievement. The process of
evaluation shall also include teacher, parent, and student input from
the alternative school itself. These evaluation reports shall be
sent to the Superintendent of Public Instruction on or before August
1st of the following year and shall be annually reviewed by persons
designated by the superintendent who are not employed by the district
operating the alternative school under review.

58511. The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall establish
minimum standards to further implement the definition of alternative
schools as used in Section 58500 and may also establish such further
guidelines as may be deemed by him necessary to the proper
administration of this article.

58512. The governing board of a school district maintaining an
alternative school may provide in whole or in part for the
transportation of a pupil attending the alternative school. In lieu
of providing such transportation, the governing board may pay to the
parents or guardian of the pupil a sum not to exceed the cost of
actual and necessary travel incurred in transporting such pupils in
cases where transportation is provided by or paid for by the parents
or guardian; provided, that in no case shall the district's state
apportionment for transportation expenses be increased because of the
operation of an alternative school.