Original Research by School Decision on Audrey Grevious Center
Audrey Grevious Center is an alternative school in Lexington, Kentucky, serving students from sixth through twelfth grade within the Fayette County public school system. It is not a charter school. The school is very small, with a total enrollment that places it among the smallest in the district. Most students in the most recent data were in ninth grade, with smaller numbers in eighth, tenth, and eleventh grades, and none in the early middle school grades of six and seven or the final year of high school.
The student body is demographically diverse. A substantial share of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, indicating that a significant portion of the school’s population comes from lower-income households. The racial and ethnic composition includes a mix of White, Black, Hispanic, and students who identify with two or more races, with no single group forming an overwhelming majority. Data on students with disabilities and English learners was not available in the records reviewed.
Because this is an alternative school with a very small enrollment, the standard academic performance metrics that parents often rely on are largely suppressed. The state testing results for both math and English language arts in the most recent year are not reported in a way that allows for public comparison; the same is true for the social studies assessment. The most recent science testing data that was available is several years old and also suppressed due to the small number of students tested. This pattern is typical for schools of this type and size. The state suppresses results when the tested group is too small to report reliably, so a family considering this school will not find the usual proficiency rates or growth measures in the public data. There is no graduation rate available for the school, which may reflect the fact that the reporting cohort is very small or that the school’s structure does not align neatly with a traditional four-year graduation measure.
The school is located in Lexington, a consolidated city-county and the second-largest city in Kentucky. Lexington blends a major university town with the global thoroughbred horse industry and a growing bourbon distillery presence. The University of Kentucky is the city’s largest employer, and the city also hosts Keeneland and The Red Mile race courses as well as hundreds of horse farms in the surrounding Bluegrass region. The built environment is largely auto-oriented across the county’s wide area, though downtown Lexington has a more walkable core with civic and entertainment venues. Housing values in the area where the school is situated are above the national benchmark and have shown a steady increase, and rental costs have also risen. The broader Fayette County housing market reflects a high price-to-income ratio, making homeownership less accessible for many households.
Standard comparisons to other schools or districts in Fayette County could not be made because the key metrics—proficiency, graduation rate, and chronic absenteeism—are all missing for this school. This does not reflect on the school’s quality; it simply means the public data does not provide the usual benchmarks.
Audrey Grevious Center is the kind of school a parent would seek out for a specific reason. It is not a neighborhood comprehensive school with a full set of published outcomes. The school’s small size and alternative designation suggest it serves students who need an educational setting different from a traditional middle or high school, though the available data does not describe the school’s mission, instructional approach, or the specific population it is designed to support. A parent considering this school would want to speak directly with the school or district to understand the program, the referral or enrollment process, and what academic and social supports are in place. The community context of Lexington offers a vibrant city with major university and cultural resources, but the school itself is a small alternative program whose public-facing academic data is largely absent, so family research will need to go well beyond what the state reports.
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