Pennsylvania District Brings Transition Program to High School

http://www.pottstownmercury.com/articles/2010/04/20/news/srv0000008044125.txt

OJR eyes in-house special education for young adults
SOUTH COVENTRY — Owen J. Roberts School District administrators have proposed moving a special education program for adults ages 18-21 into the high school.


The program, known as the Community Connections Program, provides educational and life skills classes to district students with disabilities beyond the age of 18. Pennsylvania school districts are mandated by the state to provide those services for students up to the age of 21.

Currently the Chester County Intermediate Unit runs the Community Connections Program for a number of county schools. Because the CCIU is planning to close the program next year, OJR's supervisor of special education, Joseph Milness, has recommended that the school board bring the seven district students currently enrolled in those classes back into the high school.

While that would necessitate hiring a full-time life skills teacher and two classroom aides, it would nevertheless result in a cost savings to the district, Milness said at a recent school board committee-of-the-whole meeting.

For 2011, the district would expect to pay $304,000 to the CCIU to educate seven students. A district-run program could cost only $203,000, with money saved in transportation costs and student fees currently charged to the district.

The savings would be even greater in the second year of the program, because the first year would require start-up costs, such as the purchase of a washing machine, dryer, oven and other life skills equipment, Milnes said.

"It's an exciting opportunity and there is a significant cost savings to the district. Over five years, we're looking at saving over $500,000," Milnes said.

He projected that the program would accommodate six to nine students through 2014.

In addition to saving money, Milnes stressed that the district would yield other benefits from a district-run program, including keeping students in their own community and maintaining better oversight.

Parents of students currently in life skills programs have been supportive of the concept.

"There were no parents that said they would rather have their students somewhere else if they could stay here," Milnes said.

Board member Debbie Bissland worried about having too many students in the classroom if as many as 12 were enrolled in the program.

"Twelve is a lot. The difference between seven and 12 (students) is night and day," she said.

High school Principal Richard Marchini explained that the proposal was for five to seven students, and additional students could necessitate hiring additional aides and even another teacher. He also observed that many students in the current program have child specific aides who accompany them throughout the school day.

Resident Anita Bickel raised concerns about the cost to the taxpayers.

"Whoever mandated this, I think they should pay for it," Bickel said.

Milnes told the board he had been contacted by administrators from three other school districts who had learned that OJR was proposing to run the program. They asked if Milnes would consider accepting tuition students from other districts.

"I recommend we not accept tuition students for the first two years until we work out any issues," Milnes said.

Superintendent Joel DiBartolomeo agreed that the district should avoid opening the program to non-district students during the initial startup.

In related matters, Elementary Special Education Supervisor Wendy Skogen presented a proposal to take over the elementary autistic support program at West Vincent Elementary School. That program is also currently run by the CCIU; although, it operates in West Vincent classrooms.

Skogen said the district could save $58,000 next year by running the program itself with two full-time teachers and seven part-time teacher's aides.

The elementary autistic support program currently consists of two classrooms with eight students in grades K-3, and four students in grades 4-8. The cost to the district is $325,500. That would drop to about $267,300 if the district takes over the program, according to Skogen.

As with the Community Connections Program, Skogen pointed out the benefits of taking over the program would go beyond economics, and would include better supervision of paperwork and compliance requirements.

The board will vote on those proposals at the regularly scheduled school board meeting on April 26 at 7:30 p.m. in the high school LGI room. They will also vote to adopt new math textbooks for grades K-6. Currently, many elementary classes do not use a core textbook.