THE JOURNAL & TOPICS NEWSPAPERS | THURSDAY, MAY 18, 2006

'At Risk' Students Topic Of Discussion For Dist. 59

Parents may wonder when their child comes home and repeatedly tells the story of another child's classroom tantrum.

Why, the parent thinks, is this child still in the classroom? Can't the district do something about it?

The issue is no less troubling to classroom teachers such as Marlene Pasdo, a second grade teacher in Elk Grove Twp. School Dist. 59.

Pasdo came to the Dist. 59 school board's "open mic" discussion with teachers, asking for the school board's help as a last resort.

"The social service team doesn't seem to have the time they need to take care of the kids in the building," Pasdo said. The student in question, she said, has been in the district for three years and has become increasingly disrespectful and violent. "This is a child at risk."

Prado, who has experienced being hit by the student, chair throwing and other violent behavior, asked the school board to evaluate when the effort to offer interventions to a troubled child has been enough. As a veteran school teacher, she said, she believes "enough" with her student is now.

School Board Member Sharon Roberts said she could corroborate Prado's concern. She was at the school one day and witnessed the number of staff that were pulled to provide crisis prevention intervention. Roberts said even the office staff were pulled in to assist, leaving her to man the phones in the office. "What I saw is this sort of thing affects the whole school," she said.

Erin Martin, social worker for both Forest View and Admiral Byrd schools, offered, "Staff must start off cautiously, according to state standards."

Those state standards apply to students with special needs. The Least Restrictive Environment regulations, as well as parents' preference that their child remain in the local public school setting, have an impact on the school's efforts to find interventions that address students' errant behavior.

District Education Association (DEA) President Eydie Cohen reminded the school board that she has asked the board for some time to get more involved with the district's "at risk" student population.

Included in the "at risk" designation are those students who have not achieved adequately to graduate, despite enormous efforts by teachers, Cohen said.

"I know in my heart and in my head that we need to do something about 'at risk'," said Cohen. "The reason that some of these kids are passing at all is because the teachers are going one mile and then beyond."

Cohen described a meeting she had with other eighth grade teachers regarding students who are at risk for not passing.

Asked what teachers do in that circumstance, Cohen said they provide one-on-one teaching, keep students in the office during free periods, or work with them after school to catch up "on weeks of work they haven't done."

"We just aren't giving them the skills that they will need to be successful in high school," she said. "This is the last step in their elementary education -- the last chance we have to get them invested in their education."

"I suggest that the board become engaged in this issue," Cohen offered. "Once we get a definition, then we can create a discussion that leads to a policy decision that will help us."

School Board Member Alma Read suggested that the school board create a task force to study the issue of "at risk" students of all ages.

School Board President Mardell Schumacher said that she would add the topic to a future agenda of the school board. In light of the upcoming summer months, she advised that she could not promise the timing of the next discussion.