Original Research by School Decision on Alc - Kimball
ALC - Kimball is an alternative school serving grades seven through twelve within the St. Cloud Area School District 742, located in the small, mixed-use community of Kimball in rural Stearns County. The town is described as retaining a small-town atmosphere with a traditional downtown grid, and it lies within the St. Cloud Metropolitan Statistical Area. The school itself sits along State Highway 55, integrated into the town rather than on a separate campus.
For a parent or resident trying to understand this school, the most important fact is that standard academic performance data is absent from the available records. No state assessment results, no graduation rate, and no chronic absenteeism rate are reported for this site. The neighbor comparison, which measures schools against other districts in Stearns County, could not compute proficiency, graduation, or attendance metrics because the entity values are missing. This is not necessarily a sign of poor performance; alternative schools often serve students in nontraditional settings where typical testing and outcome metrics may not apply or may be reported differently at the district level. The enrollment figures show no students recorded at this school, which may reflect that the alternative program is administered as a centralized district program or that enrollment is suppressed to protect student privacy. A parent should verify with the St. Cloud district how the school actually operates, how many students it serves, and what academic or credit-recovery outcomes are tracked.
Kimball itself is a modest, slow-growing community with a population that has increased slightly over recent decades. Key civic anchors include Willow Creek Park, a multi-use park with a trout stream, and a public library that opened a new location in late 2020. Housing values are in line with state and national benchmarks, and mortgage rates have been typical for the period. The town is accessible via state highways 15, 24, and 55, with no public transit system mentioned.
Because this school is part of the St. Cloud district, a larger public system, there may be resources, programs, and support services available through the district that are not captured at the school level. The district brief found no recent parent-relevant changes reported publicly. For a family considering this alternative school, the lack of public-facing data means that direct inquiry with the school principal or district alternative program coordinator is essential. You would want to ask about the school’s mission, student population, typical academic pathways, graduation options, and how success is measured. The alternative designation suggests a setting designed for students who need a different approach than a traditional comprehensive high school, but without more information, it is impossible to characterize the peer environment or academic rigor.
In short, ALC - Kimball is a small alternative program within a larger district, situated in a quiet rural town. The available data does not provide the usual benchmarks, so a parent’s next step must be to seek out specific details from the school and district to determine whether it fits a student’s needs.
See more original research from School Decision →