Dist. 211 to create in-house program to handle worst conduct

Palatine-Schaumburg High School District 211 board members Thursday voted unanimously to start an in-house program for students eligible for expulsion, rather than send them to a separate agency whose nearest site will be outside the district this fall.

The estimated $600,000 cost of the alternative school program was found to be more cost-effective than either of two transportation options to and from Des Plaines.

District 211 will use its own building at 335 E. Illinois Ave. in Palatine, which the North Cook Young Adult Academy has been leasing.

The district's recent annual cost for NCYAA services has been about $410,000 per year. But the agency is looking for ways to reduce costs due in part to a major reduction in its state funding.

In addition to losing the rent NCYAA has been paying, District 211 would have to pay more to send the approximately 20 to 25 students each year who engage in severe misconduct to the agency's Des Plaines site.

Board member Lauanna Recker asked how many students typically make it through the program and graduate.

"The vast majority of them," Superintendent Dan Cates said. "This is in lieu of expulsion. We believe in investing in young people. It's a very valued service that turns around lives."

Cates said he has full confidence in the district's ability to replicate the alternative school's benefits in-house.

One way of getting District 211 students to NCYAA's Des Plaines site would have been to acquire five more buses and drivers - an option that would cost $800,000 for transportation the first year and $390,000 each following year.

But adding NCYAA tuition to the cost would put the price of the first year at $1.15 million and that of each subsequent year at $800,000.

The other transportation option would be round-trip cab service for the students. This is estimated at $14,400 per year for one student and $360,000 for 25. With tuition added, this would cost $770,000 per year for 25 students.