St. Charles District 303 to move ACCESS students again, despite pleas from parents
Parents of ACCESS program students in St. Charles this week demanded culpability from St. Charles School District 303 school board members for the decisions that led to yet another relocation of vulnerable students this fall.
Despite the concerns from parents and teachers, the school board voted 5-1 on Monday to recommend moving two ACCESS classrooms at Anderson Elementary School to Corron Elementary School for the 2025-26 school year.
The plan will transfer ACCESS program students from Anderson to Corron. For some of them, it will be their fourth time switching schools since 2021.
“This is such an egregious, obvious, terrible case of repeatedly hurting some of the most vulnerable children under your care,” ACCESS parent Alice Froemling told school board members during the meeting on Monday.
ACCESS is a support classroom for K-5 students with autism spectrum disorder and similar disabilities. The program has nearly 50 students in six classrooms — two each at Anderson, Fox Ridge and Munhall elementary schools.
Multiple changes to schools with ACCESS classrooms and changes to attendance boundaries have occurred since the program began in 2017 with seven students at Ferson Creek Elementary School.
Before Monday’s vote, parents and ACCESS program educators spoke out against the most recent move during public comment, pleading with board members not to approve the transfer and demanding they take accountability for the poor planning and decision-making that led them here.
Froemling said board members should acknowledge the massive disruption it will have on families rather than extending the usual assurances. She also asked them to own up to the mistakes that led to the series of transfers and apologize to the families affected by them.
“To completely upend an autistic child’s educational experience year after year feels insurmountable,” Froemling said.
Jennifer Flowers, an ACCESS teacher at Anderson Elementary, told the board that after a difficult and stressful first year, ACCESS program students are now thriving at Anderson. She said another move would be highly disruptive to their progress.
However, board President Joseph Lackner was the only board member who voted against relocating the ACCESS classrooms.
As approved, beginning in the 2025-26 school year, the ACCESS program will have two classrooms at Munhall Elementary, two at Fox Ridge Elementary and three at Corron Elementary, with the long-term goal of having three classrooms at each school.
District 303 officials say the move to Corron is expected to give the program more room for instructional space and greater flexibility to meet students’ specialized needs. In addition to more classroom space, Corron has dedicated occupational therapy and sensory spaces.
Other key reasons for the move were that it would minimize the need for future relocations in the program and provide additional placement options on the district’s west side.
Board member Becky McCabe took accountability for the board’s past mistakes and extended an apology that incited an emotional response from the audience.
“It’s hard to be a board member on nights like these,” McCabe said. “I would like to apologize to the families. It wasn’t that we intended to hurt anybody. It’s just that we don’t have space in the right places. But moving kids as much as we’ve done is really hard. We shouldn’t have done it.”