Austin ISD to send "at-risk" kids to a separate school?

After reading this blog about AISD possibly outsourcing at-risk students to a “private company”, I agree with the author, Yu Ching Chiu, that this could create further problems for these students. I believe the author made several good arguments in defending the need for these kids to remain in the AISD schools as opposed to being sent to an independent, private school. However, I don’t feel that there was enough information given in the original news article that this was taken from, to give a good argument. In other words, it seems like we’re missing information here. Such as, what is a “private company”? Where would the money come from to fund this institution? What kind of students are being considered “at-risk”? Those with learning disabilities? Or, those who are constantly getting into trouble? It seems hard to make a good argument without this information. Assuming we are referring to “troubled” students, I agree that sending these troubled students to a separate facility would be good for those not considered to be at-risk, but I feel that we would be doing a disservice to those at-risk who would attend this separate school. Truthfully, I don’t really know what the solution should be for this situation. Sure, the kids that put forth the effort to do well in school and prepare for college don’t want to be disrupted by those who choose to cause trouble. So yes, this does interfere, somewhat, with their education. On the other hand, shipping all of the “bad kids” to a facility that is known for schooling “bad kids” probably wouldn’t encourage them to do well in school and try to turn themselves around. In my opinion, it would encourage them to give up and just settle for the lifestyle they have chosen rather than give them a reason to want to change. Most of them have chosen their paths because they don’t have any motivation to want to do better for themselves and grouping them together in one facility labeled the “bad kid school” certainly wouldn’t change their attitudes.