Two years ago, Kris Pryor was sneaking onto the Naperville North High School campus after cutting class when he got caught with a butterfly knife in his pocket. Under the district’s zero-tolerance policy, the 16-year-old sophomore could have been expelled for two years and cut off from a public school education.
Instead, school officials offered Pryor a lifeline. They stayed his expulsion and sent him to Partners for Success, a state-funded alternative school in Lombard for students who have been suspended several times or are on the verge of being expelled.
“If they kicked me out, I don’t know what I would have done. Maybe get a job and probably get in trouble again,” said Pryor, who has gone from being a D-minus to a B-average student at the alternative school. “This was my last chance and it kind of saved me.”
School officials did not have to offer Pryor another educational choice. Indeed, only eight states require that districts create alternative schools for expelled youths.
But the recent uproar in Decatur, where six students were kicked out for two years without provisions for alternative schooling, has sparked a statewide debate on alternative education. It also has prompted legislation in Springfield that would force school officials to offer such programs to all but the most serious offenders, such as those who carry guns on campus.
The Decatur school board has since offered the teens the chance to enroll in a state-run alternative program, which the students did for the first time Monday. But the board’s about-face has not quieted the chorus of calls for tougher laws and more compassion for troubled youths.
State Schools Supt. Glenn “Max” McGee would not go so far as saying he supports mandatory placement in alternative education programs, but he reiterated his stance that school boards should at least “consider” it.
“It’s wise and only fair to the child to consider every option,” McGee said. “Sometimes expulsion may be the only route, but in many cases the chance for alternative education can make the difference in a young life.”
For decades, students who chronically misbehaved in school faced two main possibilities–either they were ignored or they were kicked out. But alternative education programs came into vogue after Congress passed legislation in 1994 that mandated states adopt zero-tolerance policies on weapons in school. Those regulations caused expulsion rates to soar across the state and nation.
In Illinois, the number of expelled students leaped to 2,744 last year from 1,182 in 1990-91.
In response to the higher expulsion rates, state legislators passed a law in 1995 requiring that regional school superintendents, at least, hold hearings on the need for alternative education in their area. Though many school districts, including the Chicago Public Schools, already had their own alternative programs, the statute was the first statewide effort to help students who faced expulsion.
Today, educators in all 45 regions and Chicago have launched Safe Schools programs for troubled youths in 6th through 12th grade. An average of 4,000 students enroll each year.
The state shoulders the burden of the cost, pumping in $15 million each year. Some school districts contribute additional dollars or provide transportation for students.
“These programs are truly a lifeline for students to help them complete their education and turn their lives around,” said Sheila Radford-Hill, who oversees the program for the state Board of Education. “Before this program, many of these kids would have been expelled to the streets. This program can help save a whole generation of kids that might otherwise have been lost.”
Public school students are eligible for the program if they have been suspended several times or are facing expulsion for “gross disobedience,” typically involving drug, weapon or gang violations.
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Students can enter the Safe Schools program only through referrals from local school districts. The law does not require that school boards transfer troubled students but does mandate that each district adopt a policy for “identification and placement of students” in the program.”
Like every school-related issue in Illinois, the regionally run alternative schools are as varied as the school districts themselves. The one constant is that every program allows students to earn credit hours and, if all goes well, return to their home school.
Many, such as the Phoenix Experience program that serves Will, Grundy and Kendall Counties, operate primarily through computer-assisted learning. Students work at an individual pace, mainly through computer programs. Social workers, counselors and a few teachers are on hand.
Others, such as Partners for Success, operate as a sort of mini-school with regular class periods, core subject teachers, textbooks and curricula identical to other schools.
Partners combines academics, mentoring, social skills and family counseling. Parents are expected to attend a monthly meeting. The teacher-to-student ratio is about 1 to 7.
“This is not remedial education. We do not provide an alternative curriculum, just an alternative delivery method,” says Carole Parkins, administrator of the Partners program. “We set high expectations for our students, and most of the time, with care and attention, they reach those goals.”
Last year, 26 percent of the 4,631 Illinois students enrolled in alternative programs returned to their home school; 5 percent graduated from high school and 23 percent advanced to the next grade at the alternative school. Only 9 percent dropped out.
Still, school board members across the state expel thousands of students without referring them to Safe Schools programs.
Money is not the issue–the state picks up the tab. Lack of space is not the problem–there are many empty seats. Instead, ignorance about the program and a historic and pervasive view held by some school officials that kids should be punished instead of given a second chance are the main factors, said Radford-Hill.
In Decatur, for example. Supt. Kenneth Arndt said school board members expelled the students because the law does not allow them to refer students who have been in serious trouble. But Radford-Hill said no misbehavior automatically disqualifies a student from the program.
Alternative education advocates argue that expelling students without providing counseling or a chance at schooling dooms students to repeated bad behavior and little success.
“Because these kids are often already disenfranchised and alienated, we are creating a system where we open avenues for them to become involved in drug use, delinquency and being involved with deviant and unhealthy groups,” said Mark Greenburg, of Penn State’s College of Health and Human Development, who has done research on alternatives to expulsions.
The American Federation of Teachers estimates that for every additional $1,750 spent on alternative education, the public saves $14,000 in student learning time, $1,750 in reduced welfare costs and $1,500 in reduced prison costs. Prisons are full of high school dropouts or those who’ve been expelled.
Pryor, of Naperville, said a shot at alternative education may have saved him from becoming a dropout.
“It made me grow up,” said Pryor, who works part-time at his school as the computer technician. “It made me realize I’ve got to do the right stuff if I want to go to college and make it in life. I’m glad my dean at Naperville (North) gave me another chance.”