Some have given up on these Fayette students. But this first day is a second chance.

The first day of classes in Fayette County Public Schools looked different Wednesday than elsewhere across Lexington for the students in separate buildings on the campus of the Audrey Grevious Center and the Family Care Center who would otherwise be at risk of not graduating.

The first day of school, for many, is a second chance.

The Audrey Grevious Center is a treatment center and non-traditional school in one. Students, ages 12 – 17, learn the behavior, academic and social skills needed to transfer back to their home schools to graduate.

Students are often court-ordered to attend the Audrey Grevious Center. Some are coming there fresh from juvenile detention centers.

In a separate building from the Audrey Grevious Center, the Family Care Center provides services to high school students and families with young children. It provides an intensive case management program.

Felicia Lindsay is the new principal or director of both programs that are a partnership between the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government and the school district and located in two separate buildings on the same campus on Lexington’s Harry Sykes Way.

As the first day started, Lindsay met with the 20 or so students at the Audrey Grevious Center first, giving them affirmations and telling them, ”We believe in you. We want you to believe in you.”

Then she walked across campus to the Family Care Center and tells the 20 or so teen mothers who take high school courses while their babies are in day care downstairs, “If there is anything you ever need, we will be of service to you.”

To both groups she relayed the message, “The expectations for you are always high. They are never low.”

“We are there to prepare them for life after school,” said Lindsay, who previously was the assistant principal of another Fayette County alternative school, Martin Luther King Jr. Academy.

“My vision for students at the Audrey Grevious Center is for them to be able to move up in life to provide for their families, provide for themselves. And just be productive citizens in a global society.”

She wants community partnerships so that students learn how to be poised, how to have life skills, how to take public transportation, how to play musical instruments, and participate in the arts

The fraternity Kappa Alpha Psi sent members to visit with Grevious students on the first day.

“We are not a jail,” Lindsay said. “’We want to provide opportunities for our children to excel at high levels. We have the staff that can do that. We have great social workers, we have a wonderful school counselor. it takes all of us.”

“People have given up on them,” Lindsay said. “Well guess what? They have a second chance, and a third chance and a fourth chance. That’s what we do.”

At the Audrey Grevious Center a student told Lindsay he was happy to be there because he felt safe.

“Alternative ed can be challenging but rewarding,” she said, referring to the staff. “It’s not for the faint of heart.”

The collaboration between the city and school district has blossomed at both programs over the last few months.

Fifteen moms graduated from high school at the Family Care Center last year, said Lindsay. Six were accepted to college. Some took college credit courses at the Family Care Center.

School counselor Katie Disney said in addition to attending high school courses, the students get to see their children during the day since they are in day care in the building. They ride to and from school with their children on the school bus.

“How can we join together to help at-risk kids,” Disney said. “If we can’t do it, what does that say to our community?.”

Kacy Allen-Bryant, the Commissioner of Social Services for the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government, said the transportation workers, custodians and classroom aides are employed by the city. Teachers are all employed by Fayette County Public Schools.

The city provides the building and funds to run the program.

“It’s a reimagine,” said Allen-Bryant. “These are very vulnerable kids. “The fact that we are able to have this partnership impacts them greatly.”

This story was originally published August 14, 2024 at 4:10 PM.