Alternative School To Serve Cleveland County, Fordyce, Woodlawn Districts. RISON - Students in lcoal school districts who struggle to succeed in a regular classroom setting now have an alternative with the opening of the Compass Academy at the Kingsland School campus.Compass Academy is the latest alternative school to be opened by the Arkansas River Education Cooperative (AREC) based in Pine Bluff. Cathi Swan, director of AREC, said the cooperative currently operates Focus Academy, Flex Academy, After Focus Academy and Explore Academy at former school campuses in the Pine Bluff area.Compass Academy is being used for students from the Cleveland County, Fordyce and Woodlawn School Districts.Last year, former Cleveland County School District Superintendent Jerrod Williams approached Swan and AREC about starting an alternative school at the Kingsland School campus.The facility was previously used by the Cleveland County Head Start program for preschool students from Rison and Kingsland. However, the Cleveland County School Board voted by a 4-3 margin in April to move all the Head Start students at Kingsland into a renovated Head Start center at Rison beginning this school year. During that same meeting in April, the school board also approved a memorandum of understanding with AREC to develop an alternative school at the Kingsland School.Compass Academy officially opened with the start of the 2024-25 school year in August, and Swan said nearly half of the 50 allotted seats for the school are being filled. The school is designed for students in the 7th through 12thgrades who struggle in a traditional classroom setting, Swan said. She noted that Compass Academy is not a punitive school where students are sent for disciplinary actions. However, she did say that school districts can use the academy as an alternative for students facing suspension or expulsion.Swan said the students who are typically enrolled at any of AREC's alternative schools are usually there for falling behind in school or they are on the verge of dropping out of school…