The actions that lead students from all three district 201 campuses to alternative vary from physical altercations to simply wanting a smaller school environment.

According to Dr. Erin Kelly, principal at Alternative, students located at alternative find different ways to move past their differences knowing they’re going to see each other every day due to school size. At the building, students have a homeroom that used for social/emotional counseling because the goal of alternative is to teach students that “In life, you are going to have disagreements and there are people you’re not going to like but you have to get past it.” Compared to Morton East, Alternative begins their school day at exactly 8:15 am and ending at 3:30 pm. The alternative offers a second chance for students after expulsion. They utilize a restored justice system instead of suspension, which means, ” We try not to make it as a prison, we try to make it positive. We don’t give out many referrals and our counselor makes a huge difference.”