Illinois

Work to build a free-standing addition for special education classrooms at Hadley Junior High School in Glen Ellyn will be completed on time and under budget, officials said.

Assistant Superintendent for Finance, Facilities and Operations Bob Cisarella said the $1.4 million project requires a little bit more touch-up work but will be ready for Glen Ellyn Elementary District 41′s first day of school Aug. 25.

He praised construction crews, who made significant progress early after an April 1 groundbreaking and helped avoid any costly delays.

A 22-day construction strike that began June 29 caused some area schools to worry their projects wouldn’t be done on time, but that was never a factor in District 41, Cisarella said.

The quick spring start also lessened the impact of heavy rains that pounded DuPage County this summer.

“We already pretty much had the building under roof by the time the rains hit in July,” he said. “We were able to get into the ground and put the foundation down for the stormwater vault prior to any rain delay.”

That vault will be capable of holding 15,500 cubic gallons of water, which will help alleviate any flooding concerns around the 5,500-square-foot addition.

“It does nothing but help the facility and the neighborhood,” Cisarella said.

The new building will be home to three special education classrooms, as well as two handicapped-accessible bathrooms, storage and office space, and a locker area.

A conference room will be set up for special education conferences and a wheelchair ramp will lead to the northern entrance of the red building, which matches another extension of the main structure.

The bulk of the construction money – $750,000 – comes from stimulus funding with an additional $425,000 in developer donations. The balance will be paid from the district’s operations fund.

Cisarella said the building’s opening will help the school’s special education program.

“It’s the first time a wing of a building (in the district) has been dedicated specifically for the use of special education students,” Cisarella said.

Original Story

Larger classes, fewer teachers feared

By Lisa Black, Chicago Tribune

June 17, 2010

Special-education advocates fear that as the state’s budget crisis filters into classrooms, more school districts will skimp on services to children with disabilities — or take money from regular education programs to pay for them.

While critics complain that two suburban school districts are contracting with a lower-cost private school, Ombudsman Plus, for some of their most fragile students, they describe it as a sign of the economic times.

Under federal law regarding children with special needs, school districts “have a legal obligation to try to maintain services at a certain level. Otherwise they can be sued,” said Rodney Estvan, education policy analyst for Access Living of Chicago.

He fears that districts will start to cut programs affecting all children, such as music or arts, pitting parents against each other. Meanwhile, school districts are borrowing money while waiting for the legislature to approve a state budget and pay its backlog of bills, he said.

Others worry that more students with special needs will be placed in regular education classrooms without proper support.

On Monday, state schools Superintendent Christopher Koch issued a memo that allows school districts to request a waiver to a law requiring that at least 70 percent of students in a regular education classroom not have special needs.

“It would only be granted with great thought and consideration,” said Mary Fergus, spokeswoman for the Illinois State Board of Education.

Still, advocates fear regular education teachers without experience or credentials for working with disabled students could become responsible for them, said Bev Johns, chairwoman of the Illinois Special Education Coalition.

“That is a major concern, particularly when you look at Chicago, which is making the class sizes bigger,” Johns said.

She also has heard complaints that school districts are refusing or delaying evaluations of children who may be eligible for special-education services.

“They are not evaluating because they don’t want to pay for services,” Johns said.

Chicago

The federal stimulus package will provide Chicago Public Schools with more than $400 million in funding for several existing programs over two years. ARRA’s Title I grant will be used to support early childhood centers, services to English language learners, school improvement efforts, professional development, parent involvement, and after-school programs. ARRA’s IDEA funds will pay for salary and benefit costs for special education teachers at specialty schools that are dedicated to educating children with disabilities.

Chicago Public Schools also expects a funding cliff in two years as the $400 million in ARRA stimulus funds expire. Approximately $94 million of these funds will be used in FY 2010 to maintain supplemental programs whose funding was reduced by the state and to support cost increases approved by the Illinois State Board of Education. Some $130 million of these funds will be reserved for use in FY 2011 in order to support supplemental programs and school improvement initiatives, as well as to meet budgetary needs as allowed.

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