MARIETTA - Oakwood Open Campus High School, as students know and love it, will soon be laid to rest at a tender age of 31.

Despite begging and pleading from students, parents and teachers at the Cobb school board's Wednesday meeting, the fate of the alternative high school remains unchanged - it will be turned into a digital academy as of next fall.

Priding itself in being Cobb County School District's, "First Choice for a Second Chance," Oakwood has offered Cobb County students an alternative learning environment since its opening as Kenwood High School in 1978. But at an April 22 meeting, unbeknownst to several board members, the board voted to turn Oakwood into what the district refers to as a "digital academy," replacing teachers with computer programs. The April 22 vote cut 734 positions throughout the district, including 31 alternative education positions, and restructured the alternative education program.

Currently, any student may attend the school, as long as they are in good standing with their home school. Many Oakwood students who spoke to the board on Wednesday said they were struggling to learn and perform at their home schools and found Oakwood to be their second chance at getting a high school diploma.

"Oakwood has completely changed my course of life," student Hannah Hammill said to the board. "In my previous high school I was struggling with my math and science courses. I failed three math classes and one physics class ... I came to Oakwood hoping I would graduate on time, and I learned I would graduate early. I have a stronger self-esteem and I'm making As and Bs in my math and science courses. The teachers here at Oakwood will not take baby steps with you or give you Ds to pass you along. They make you learn the subject."

Oakwood currently serves 159 students from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on its roughly 11-acre campus on Joyner Avenue near Dobbins Air Reserve Base, Principal Rusty Hill said. It does not offer sports or extra-curricular activities, and doesn't have a cafeteria or transportation to the school.

Oakwood employs 31 people, including 22 teachers, three administrators, three counselors, several secretaries and one social worker. According to district documents, those teachers will be replaced by several computer programs and instructors from the Ombudsman Program, a private educational service program based out of Libertyville, Ill., that educates middle and high school students who are on long-term suspension or expelled.

With the new plans, the academy will offer three, three-hour class sessions per day, five days a week, and one night-school session four days a week, serving 180 students. District spokesman Jay Dillon said students who are attending Oakwood this school year will be enrolled in their home schools for the 2010-2011 school year and given a chance to attend the new Oakwood academy, the Performance Learning Center, Cobb Virtual Academy or the Adult Education Center. But parents, like Karen Abel, Hammill's mother, say those options just aren't enough.

"If you close Oakwood High School and you send her back to her home school, then what?" Abel said Wednesday. "Her home school has already failed her as a student, they totally have failed her needs. How in good conscious can you close a school without giving a real alternative to these kids?"

The district would not answer repeated questions about how many computers would be housed in the Oakwood Digital Academy, nor did it specify how many Ombudsman instructors would be leading classes.

While the district maintains that all of the Oakwood employees will be relocated to other schools throughout the district, the teachers are still fighting to save their jobs, their students and the school they love.

On Wednesday, teacher Misty Seago asked the board for proof, in the form of test scores, that the Ombudsman Program would be a better alternative for students than Oakwood is.

"Oakwood High School is fully accredited by SACS, as such we're required to report all of our test score to the state," Seago said. "... So we ask, was this same standard of accountability pursued, achieved and assessed when considering the Ombudsman program? Furthermore, are you willing to review and present any data that shows that Ombudsman is an appropriate choice for the academic achievement of Cobb County students? The staff of Oakwood High School wants nothing more than to continue to serve the principals, teachers, parents and students of Cobb County, as they've done for over 30 years."

The Journal asked the district for End of the Course Test Scores for both Oakwood and Ombudsman students to compare these numbers, but was told that it does not keep track of aggregate data for Ombudsman test scores, and instead includes those students in data with their home schools.

Seago and many other advocates argue that Oakwood is not a program, but a school, and the district should have used proper procedures, like holding a community forum, before closing it.

For its part, the district says it is not closing the school, only significantly and permanently restructuring it because of budget cuts. According to the plan, privatizing Oakwood and replacing its teachers with computers and Ombudsman instructors would save the district $2.2 million. The board voted to renew the district's $1.6 million contract with Ombudsman at its April 22 meeting, and although it will provide its services at Oakwood, it will not be requiring any additional charges.

On Wednesday, even after the board heard comments from more than 10 people from the Oakwood community, no members broached the subject of a possible revote.

Still Oakwood supporters and students remain devastated over the changes.

"When there's 100 more kids that will drop out of high school because of you all closing schools, closing the wrong ones or not making proper cuts in the right places, that's on you all's conscious," said Sam Bass, former Oakwood student of the year in 2005-2006.