Recent announcements about the allocation of economic stimulus funds to special education programs have some advocates thinking about local programs’ effectiveness.
Special education programs at Evanston Township High School are set to receive more than $640,000 in economic stimulus funds, significantly less than funds allotted for programs in Evanston/Skokie School District 65, ETHS Chief Financial Officer Bill Stafford said this week.
But some Evanston residents are still wary of the program at District 65.
Marian Casey, executive director of Answers for Special Kids, said ETHS has a better special education program than those at District 65 schools.
“I work with a number of parents at District 65, and when they get to District 202, I never hear from them again,” she said. “They don’t have issues with 202. I heard from parents they find it to be very good and adequate.”
Though ETHS is currently working on the budget for the funds, which is due at the end of June, Stafford said a lot of the money will be used for current consulting and teaching programs.
“It’s a massive program, and we think it’s very good, but it’s very expensive,” he said.
The program currently serves about 600 students with a wide variety of needs, said Robert Gottlieb, department chairman for special education at ETHS.
The department at ETHS offers services for students with a wide range of needs, including mental impairments, emotional disorders, physical or health impairments and autism spectrum disorders, according to the school’s Web site.
“We, like every special education department in the country, operate under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and really try to support students to be in the least restrictive environment with the most challenging curriculum,” he said. “We are really working to continue to support focused post-high school transition plans.”
Casey said the difference between the programs may be attributed to the number of schools in each district. Currently, District 65 has 15 schools serving elementary and middle school students.
“District 65 has many schools in the district so services are distributed across many schools and areas, so it’s more difficult to create consistency in service, whereas District 202 is one school, so it allows them to have more consistency and execution of standards,” she said. “I also think that the leadership is better at 202 in special education, and the administration is better at running the program.”
Casey said schools should provide more professional development for general education teachers. She also suggested funds should be allotted to set up a parent resource center and create networks across districts for teachers to improve the system.
“I find special education teachers receptive, but they don’t have the support of administration,” she said of the District 65 program. “The big excuse in Evanston is that we have so many different needs of students, which I don’t feel is the correct standard.”
Gottlieb said the main difference in the programs is the emphasis on certain areas.
“Well, high school is different,” he said. “In high school, we do concentrate more on preparing kids for after school, and District 65 is preparing kids for high school.”
Placement in programs at the high school level depends on case-study evaluations, child-review conferences and Individualized Education Program meetings, which are mandated by IDEA.
“We have a great special education program here,” Gottlieb said. “We have many initiatives that are really supporting the connectedness between populations that might, without robust programming, be quite separate.”
