Community Unit School District 308 board members moved in a split vote to look for a new home for a special education program, which has been the subject of heated debate in the district about the interests of students and the interests of residents of the neighborhood in which the program is located.
Now, less than a year after the district’s transition program moved into a house on Brock Court in Oswego, administrators are looking for a new location for the program. Board members Mike McDowell and Greg O’Neil voted against the measure, while Brad Banks, Lauri Doyle, Danielle Paul, Jared Ploger and board president Matt Bauman voted in favor.
Bauman said the move is not because the current neighborhood is unsafe, but because there could be a better location.
“There was always going to be tension, I think, in the neighborhood if the program remained there,” he said. “And we don’t want the kids in that environment.”
The district’s transition program is designed to prepare special education students between 18 and 22 to move from high school to further education, training or employment in the community. The program moved into the home on Brock Court after the board approved the purchase in June as part of a larger plan to relocate several district programs. It had previously been housed, along with other special education programs, in a district building that officials have said needs large-scale improvements.
Since then, Brock Court residents have expressed concerns about safety, school buses, traffic and other issues. Program staff have said locating the transition program in a house teaches students daily living skills in a natural setting and students have made the home their own, but acknowledged challenges with the Brock Court home.
During the debate, some board members said the scenario taught students about tough situations, while others weighed whether the district was putting students in an unkind or unsafe environment. Administrators have said the home has been made compliant with the American with Disabilities Act, and work would have to be done to reverse some of those changes before it could be sold.
In late February, an attorney who said he was representing neighborhood residents sent a letter urging the Oswego-based district to relocate the program, saying in part that board members had made “insensitive and inflammatory” comments about residents. Among the concerns raised in the letter were comments from some at a meeting who he said had called residents “intolerant” and “jerks.”
Bauman said the board chose at a meeting Monday to move toward relocating the program because the Brock Court location has “flaws,” and board members want to find a solution that will work better. They are recommending the program remain with the same format and to look for another house.
He said the board has not set a deadline for the move because members want to move “a little bit more diligently” than when they purchased the Brock Court house.
“It’s just wanting to move cautiously, making sure it’s the right one, that there are not similar mistakes made,” he said.
He also said the board has not set a hard budget for the purchase, and the expense will depend on the locations available.
Final options will come before the board for a vote, he said.
Twitter @srfreish
