Sugarloaf Mills mall to host non-traditional high school

If your idea of students at the mall looks like a video for 1980s teen pop icon Tif- fany, the new high school going into Sugarloaf Mills will change your thinking.

Phoenix High School at Sugarloaf Mills is a part- nership between Gwinnett County Public Schools and Simon Youth Foundation, a division of Simon Prop- erty Group, owner of the mall. The new facility set to open Monday is a exten- sion of the existing Phoenix High School, also in Lawrenceville.

Both spaces are open campuses designed to serve students who are committed to finishing their education but need additional support or are interested in work- ing while they go to school. Although any Gwinnett stu- dent can attend Phoenix, many at the school have fallen behind in their credits, dropped out or have expe- rienced circumstances that have hindered their educational progress.

The main campus serves more than 500 full-time students and many part-time students working to get back on track. The mall school has an enrollment of 95.

The Simon Youth Foundation has a 20-year history of partnering with public school districts across the country to form alternative high schools that serve students who struggle to succeed in a tradition classroom environment. While the Sugarloaf Mills program is the first in Georgia, the foundation has 35 academies in 15 states.