By Cate Lecuyer
Staff writer
April 28, 2008 06:00 am BEVERLY — If the McKeown School closes to elementary students next year, it would become an alternative secondary school under the superintendent's proposal. Figuring out exactly what that would mean — and how to make it work — is Debra O'Connor's job. And she's spent the past four weeks working on a plan. "A lot of these ideas have been in my mind for a long time," said O'Connor, the city's special education administrator for eight years. She sees the new school as a place where special education students who graduate would get career and life training until they're 21, and students who might otherwise have to leave because of suspensions, court involvement and mental health issues could instead stay in the Beverly public schools. "It's not about making any money at this point," O'Connor said. "It's about breaking even." But eventually, both she and Superintendent James Hayes see the school reducing the amount spent on special education, and bringing in new revenue. Hayes also proposed turning Cove Elementary School into an early childhood education center and laying off 61 teachers and staff to close a $2.6 million gap between spending and revenue in next year's budget. The proposal was met with outrage from the community and from parents in particular who were concerned about class sizes going up and losing two neighborhood schools. The group Yes for Beverly advocated for a Proposition 21/2 override, which the city will vote on in a June 3 election. If the override passes, it would keep the school structure the same next year, but administrators would move forward with some consolidation plan for the future. Students with behavioral, social and emotional issues This is the first piece of the proposed alternative school. It would be an in-between option for students who don't do well in mainstream classes at the high school and middle school, but don't want to travel to a school outside the city. Remaining a part of the Beverly public schools is an attractive option because it means students can still participate in extracurricular activities like sports and band, O'Connor said. Two in-house alternative programs — Choices at Briscoe and TEP at the high school — will still be around, but sometimes students need more support than those programs offer, O'Connor said. The school would serve students with mental health issues who don't function well at the high school or middle school, or who need to return to a smaller environment and ease their way back to the high school. For some it would be a permanent placement; for others, only temporary. It could be kids with behavioral problems who need more structure in their lives, autistic kids who need more support, kids who were caught drinking or doing drugs and face court intervention, kids with anxiety about going to a large school, and kids who suffer from other mental health issues that prohibit them from succeeding in mainstream classrooms. The cases would vary, but to put it into perspective, so far this year, 37 students in the middle and high schools have gone to a hospital primarily for mental health reasons. "And 10 of them were there more than once," O'Connor said. There have also been more than 20 students who were suspended, expelled, arrested, or facing court involvement. By law, they're not allowed to go to the public schools for 45 days, and they were either home-tutored or placed in a school outside the district, such as the North Shore Academy. Most of them came back, but not all. Eleven of those students were permanently placed somewhere else, at Beverly's expense. Vocational training after the age of graduation The second part of the program would provide vocational training for special education students who are over the normal age of graduation. State law says schools have to teach special education students from ages 3 to 21, so this program would provide career services and life skills for young adults to help them gain independence and succeed both personally and professionally, O'Connor said. For example, students would learn to navigate the bus system, commuter rail or T, or help them establish job connections with local businesses. It could help them build relationships with people, find hobbies, improve their appreciation of art and music, and live a happy life. Currently, most special education students learn these skills through EMBARK, a program at Salem State College that's run by the North Shore Education Consortium, at a cost of $26,894 per student. Again, the money saved by keeping them in the school district would be used to start the McKeown alternative school. O'Connor said there are three students who would qualify for the program next year, and seven students with behavioral, social and emotional issues whose families have agreed to move them from the North Shore Education Consortium to McKeown. That's 10 students who would return to the district. Beverly parent Steve Galante, whose oldest son goes to EMBARK, said he has mixed feelings about the program because having the EMBARK program at Salem State provides a good transition into college. Yet if Beverly had offered a similar program, he said he probably would have placed his son in it. Money matters O'Connor said it would cost about $254,000 to start an alternative school. It costs $279,244 to place 10 students out of the district. So if 10 students were to go to the alternative school instead, that money could be used for start-up costs. Basically, the district would be spending the same amount of money on special education; it would just be used differently, she said. "It's not saving anything now, but we will have the capacity to do more in the future," she said. Once the program is established, say by 2010, she hopes more special education students will go to the alternative school, for the same cost as a regular student, and Beverly would save money by not paying for the tuition or transportation to send them to an out-of-district school. Eventually, she envisions other cities and towns will start sending special education students to Beverly, and it could generate revenue. "The savings will be in the new kids who aren't yet placed," she said. Tuition and transportation costs for out-of-district placements are getting more expensive every year, and the number of special education students is rising. Out of the 4,567 students in the Beverly public schools, about 930, or 19 percent, are considered disabled by federal standards, and the city must provide for them. "It's a population that just keeps growing," O'Connor said. Galante, who has five kids who range from first grade to having graduated, said families often prefer to keep their kids in the public school system, but they can't if there aren't any programs that fit their needs. "For a lot of people, it's not their first choice to have their kids leave the city," he said. "But as a SPED parent, with SPED kids, we have to go where the services are." Mercene Perry, who has three kids at Centerville, Briscoe and Beverly High, said although she doesn't want to lose an elementary school, she likes the idea of having an alternative secondary school because there's a need for it, and it would benefit many students. "Aside from the savings, I think the kids will like going to their home schools," she said.
Alternative school students The School Department has identified 10 students who would go to the alternative McKeown School program next year. Number of students Current school Cost per student Total cost r 3 EMBARK $26,894 $80,682 r 7 North Shore Education Consortium $28,366 $198,562 r Total: $279,244
Alternative School staff and services Some of the positions would come from moving employees around, and others would require new costs, paid for through the money saved by moving 10 students back into the district. Staff/services needed Cost r 1 special transition coordinator for vocational training $50,000 r 2 paraprofessionals $30,000 r 1 social worker $50,000 r 1 life coach $15,000 r 8 curriculum teachers* $48,000 r Behavior management assessment tests $50,000 r Travel training to ride bus or subway $10,000 r Specialized reading and curriculum books and software $25,000** r Total: $254,000
Staff needed repurposed positions r 2 special education teachers move one from the Choices program in the middle school and one from the TEP program in the high school r 2 life coaches use two aides already employed in the district r 1 reading tutor use the district reading specialist r Part-time vocational specialist use specialist from EMBARK r Part-time tutors use tutors available for students at home or in the hospital r Secretary use secretary from SPED office for one hour a day r Administrator use administrator from SPED office
*Eight teachers would teach during their sixth period instead of using it for preparation time, and receive a stipend of $6,000 a year ** One-time cost
—
Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.