The school district has had various forms of an alternative school for many years (maybe as far back as the 1970s).  In the early years the alternative school was just a single room where students who struggled with behaviors might be assigned for 10 days or so depending on the nature of the offense.  All of that changed when the Sikeston school board and administration envisioned a new way of doing alternative school that would better serve the needs of the students and the district.  After a year of intense planning, New Horizons High School was opened in September of 2003.

There are three programs that make up the Sikeston Alternative Education Center:

NHHS (New Horizons High School)

BARC (Bulldog Academic Resource Center)

SAC (or Suspension School)

New Horizons, the BARC program, and the Suspension School were all housed at the old Bailey school until moving to the current location on Murray Lane in 2007.  All three of the programs constitute the Sikeston Alternative Education Center which serves as a model to the rest of the state.  Each year school personnel from all over Missouri who are interested in beginning or improving their alternative schools come to visit the school and learn how we do it in Sikeston!