Our say: Alternative schools will need more help

There probably won't be major changes in the county's system of alternative schools until a new permanent superintendent takes office.

As shown by our story on Sunday, that superintendent will inherit a program that makes good use of limited resources to get problem students back on track. The program is good as far as it goes, but will need to go further.

The system is the result of some excellent decisions in the 1990s, supplemented by more recent changes by former school superintendent Eric Smith.

Dr. Smith inherited the 80-seat Mary E. Moss Academy, an alternative high school program set up in a building at the...