Neighboring districts come together for troubled middle schoolers

Indian Prairie Unit District 204 and Naperville Unit District 203 leaders believe a proposed alternative middle school will help a small group of troubled students thrive.

The plan, discussed recently in District 203 and Monday in District 204, would educate as many as 30 students from both districts who have been disciplined for behavior issues or who need a smaller and more structured learning environment.

Each district has been toying with the idea for years, but District 204 Deputy Superintendent Kathryn Birkett said it took until now to have enough students to warrant such an effort.

"With students we out-place, as well as students we have incidents with ... we finally feel this is a very good undertaking," Birkett said.

Jim Caudill, director of student intervention programs for District 203, said 11 students were expelled from junior highs in the two years before this one.

"Most of the students are pretty good students who have just made bad decisions," Caudill said. "Most of these kids are pretty good kids and we just want to bring them a more academic environment than a behavioral environment, which unfortunately many alternative schools are."

After studying similar programs in neighboring districts such as Plainfield and Oswego, Indian Prairie Director of Secondary Education Kevin Myers said his team developed a program that can house up to 30 seventh- and eighth-graders at Indian Plains High School Academy,1322 N. Eola Road.

Indian Plains Principal Cecelia Tobin said the school's smaller class sizes and specialized staff should help the students get back and track and allow them to transition back to their home school within a year. At that time, she and the other school administrators would decide how to proceed.

"The smaller school model is really the key so students have academic supports but also have the opportunity to learn and build on social and behavioral skills they may be lacking or just slightly behind their peers with," Tobin said. "The goal ultimately is for them to come to us to understand what their needs are and to get them up to speed so they can successfully transition back to their home schools."

Both Meyers and Caudill agree keeping familiar curriculum will help the students.

"We're going to get a big bang for the dollar and get the curriculum every other student is getting and that's what I'm most happy about," Caudill said. "It's not watered down curriculum, it's good college prep curriculum that will get kid prepared for high school and in the long term, for college."

Both districts still need to formally approve the plan with budgetary restraints being the only hurdle.

If approved, Myer said the program will cost his district about $97,900 in the first year for startup supplies. After that, he said the district stands to spend about $73,500 because it's already supplying the part-time administrator.

Caudill's district would pay about $135,000 - which is about $10,000 or $11,000 a student.