Forest Lake board hears expanded alternative-learning program and mental‑health pilot

The Forest Lake Public School District board on April 2 heard a detailed presentation on the district’s alternative learning programs and new mental‑health supports designed to keep students engaged and on track to graduate.

The Forest Lake Community School principal described the district’s alternative high‑school offerings—credit recovery, electives, employability skills and embedded social‑emotional learning—and said the district’s credit‑recovery model was piloted at the state level. "Our alternative learning program in Forest Lake is intentionally designed to meet the wide‑ranging needs of our students," the principal said.

Terry, a community‑school math teacher, described a college‑in‑the‑schools statistics course taught with the University of Minnesota and shared a student project using TinkerPlots to explore bias in simple observational experiments. "I am a firm believer that every student can do difficult math," Terry said, describing student work that will be presented at a regional conference.

Emily Wood, the district’s new licensed clinical counselor assigned to the community school, outlined the district’s mental‑health supports, including a therapeutic education program that combines academic instruction with integrated therapy. Wood said the therapeutic program serves grades 9–12, is a partnership with Canvas Health, has a capacity cap of seven students (the day program operates on the district schedule) and has served 13 students to date in varying ways. "Anything mentionable is manageable," Wood said, describing a follow‑up flow that includes school‑based screeners, immediate staff conversation, parental contact, and safety planning for students who meet risk thresholds.

The board asked for clarification on logistics and results; administration said the therapeutic program meets daily (7:45 a.m.–2:15 p.m.), is staffed by a licensed therapist, recreational therapist, teacher and paraprofessional, and aims to transition students back into mainstream classes when clinically appropriate. Board members also asked for ongoing outcome reporting as the SOS training is expanded.

Administration said the district will pilot the SOS (Signs of Suicide) curriculum more broadly in the fall, and is also implementing the Be Good People character curriculum in summer and behavioral supports. Materials (mission/learning‑goal brochures) were provided to the board for review.

Next steps: the board encouraged staff to return with regular updates on enrollment and on the SOS rollout and to provide evidence of outcomes as the pilots expand.