Erie, Pa., District Brings Back School
Posted on: Monday, 8 August 2005, 18:00 CDT
Aug. 8--The old St. Stanislaus School will see new life again as the site of the Erie School District's alternative education program.
The decision marks a change of course for the district, which for the past few years has sent most of its alternative education students to the Sarah A. Reed Children's Center and Perseus House Inc., a nonprofit organization that serves students with academic, behavior and emotional problems.
The district is planning to take back part of its alternative education program for students in fourth through eighth grades, largely for fiscal reasons.
Between 40 and 50 students, who have not yet been selected, will begin taking classes at St. Stanislaus School, 1203 Wallace St., when school starts later this month.
Eventually, the number of students at the site will grow to between 150 and 200, Erie schools Superintendent Jim Barker said.
High school students will continue to be served through Perseus House's two charter schools. The district will continue to contract with the Sarah A. Reed Children's Center to provide the same services to children in kindergarten through third grade.
Barker said the decision to bring the program back under the district's umbrella was a cost-cutting move.
The school district had contributed about $1 million a year to Perseus House -- $250,000 from the district's general fund and $750,000 from a variety of grants -- to run the alternative education program. Perseus House, in turn, provided the teachers and counselors.
The district considered cutting the funding to only the $750,000 in grant money during deliberations on its current budget. At the same time, Perseus House officials, faced with increasing costs and demand, were asking for more money.
The district said it could provide the same services as Perseus House for less, Barker said.
"We have school psychologists here, we have counselors and behavior specialists,"Barker said. "Cost was a major consideration."
The program for fourth- through eighth-graders now will be funded entirely through $150,000 in federal special education funds. The district will use about $80,000 of that money to rent the classroom space from the Erie Catholic Diocese, which closed the parochial school in June 2001.
Rose Galich, the current principal at JoAnna Connell Elementary School, will become head of the new site. Tom Antolik, associate executive director at Perseus House, said children in the program will benefit from the move.
"It's good for the district and good for the kids," Antolik said. "It keeps the kids closer to the actual educational environment. Once they show the capacity to go back into the classroom the adjustment won't be as difficult, because they'll still see themselves as part of the district."
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Source: Erie Times-News
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