"We're painting, landscaping, trying to make it look like a regular school," said Mark Manor, the center's new director.

A name change is even being considered.

But that's not all.

Manor wants to see the center, which is located behind Fair Street Elementary School, to be known as more than just as the place "where the bad kids go."

The center will remain a place for students in grades 6-9 who have been removed from the normal school setting due to disciplinary problems.

But Manor said the school also will accept students who could benefit from a more structured environment, one that focuses on small-group and individualized instruction and without the distractions and frills of normal school.

"I'm working on a brochure to get the message out," he said, "to tell what the school is about and try to brush away the negative connotations."

The 34-year-old Athens native said he believes the center could help students who are struggling academically and somehow find themselves "lost in the shuffle" of school.

"We can help push them in the right direction," he said.

Manor, formerly the in-school suspension coordinator at Madison County Middle School, said some students could be referrals from schools as the result of conferences between school officials and parents.

Robert Thorpe, principal of Gainesville Middle School, said that students with academic problems frequently misbehave.

"If we can change their behavior, they can be successful in the classroom," he said.

The center now has just six students, but Manor would like to see that number grow to 20 or 30 this school year.

The students arrive at the school by first taking a bus to their "home school." A bus then takes the students to the center. After school, the students are taken to their school, then bused home.

They can either bring their lunch or buy one as provided by the Fair Street Elementary cafeteria.

The center has two full-time teachers, Eva Solomon and Derek Green, and one half-time teacher, Buddy Bowman.

Manor said the system plans to provide another full-time teacher as the enrollment warrants.

Green, who is in his first year teaching physical education and health, said he believes the school is a place where students will want to go "if they want more discipline and structure."

He can relate to that himself, as a 1998 graduate of The Citadel military college in Charleston, S.C., Green said he and the students "have a lot of different backgrounds, but we mesh together to form a real good team."