For Katie Horn, who teaches at Lauderdale County School District’s new alternative school, there’s one lesson that’s particularly important.

“In all teaching, we have to teach kids to believe in themselves,” she said.

The school, called the Lauderdale County Education and Skills Center, for kindergarten through sixth grade, is designed to for children who need behavioral help to succeed in their classes — and it began operating this term. The district already has an alternative school, located on the Meridian Community College campus, for students from seventh through twelfth grade, said Tammy Crowe, principal of the alternative school for kindergarten through sixth grade.

“The state of Mississippi requires that there is an elementary (alternative school) as well, so we added it,” Crowe said. “And there was a need. We have kids that were unsuccessful (because of) their behavior.”

In the Meridian Public School District, the Marion Park School of Innovation serves as the alternative school for kindergarten through grade 12.

In Lauderdale, the new alternative elementary school is stationed downstairs in Northeast Lauderdale Middle School. Eleven students are currently in the school, and Crowe said the capacity is 30 students.

Crowe said that last school year, the district worked with Weems Community Mental Health Center to provide extensive counseling for students experiencing behavioral problems that were impeding their studies. This year Weems has remained involved, but in a different way.

“This year the difference is that at the alternative school, we have certified teachers who are here all day,” she said, “and the students have two hours of group therapy provided by Weems.”

Assistant Superintendent Ed Mosley also emphasized that the school was needed — both to follow state regulations and to fulfill the needs of district students.

“We were not meeting state requirements, and there was a need for it,” Mosley said, noting that previous efforts had focused more on behavior than school performance.

“This is more of an academic (effort),” he said.

Crowe said the smaller classroom environment creates a key strength for the school, and she noted that time is set aside for physical education, as well,

“We do use the same curriculum that all Lauderdale County students use,” she added. “That’s important. And we follow the pacing guide that the other students follow.”

Crowe said the progress of the students is reviewed every 30 days.

“At that point there will be a group decision to decide whether they go back to their home schools, or whether they stay,” she said. “We’re very conscientious of making transitions too soon. Our goal is to provide them with support they need and then to start taking away some of the support (gradually) while they’re here to more closely resemble a traditional classroom.”

Horn is one of two full-time teachers at the school, along with two part-time teachers. One of the part-time teachers is a special education instructor, Crowe said. She noted, too, that the district is seeking to hire a third full-time teacher for the school.

On a recent class day, Horn, who teaches fifth and sixth-graders, explained some of the ways the students can help each other as they learn. She recalled a student who helped another student with math — an area in which the first student was strong.

“He said to me at the end of the day, ‘I did not know that I knew how to help someone else,’” Horn said.

Horn said she also uses journal-writing in the class to help students reflect on their actions, and on their words.

“If they do something one way, you want them to think about how they could have done it another way,” she said. “Self-reflection. Think before we act; think before we speak.”

Sometimes, Horn said, she’ll provide students with journal-writing prompts, and other times she’ll ask them to write about behavior that could be improved. Those sorts of entries, she said, have been less necessary lately.

“I have less journal-writing for behavior now because they’re knowing what to do before it happens,” she said.