Referral rulesKimberly FornekStudents are sent to safe schools through three methods:
Expulsion—following an expulsion hearing.
Emergency referral—to quickly transfer students who are considered a danger to themselves or others because of extremely aggressive behavior, such as bringing a gun or injuring someone.
Principal referral—because of repeated disciplinary incidents that may not be expellable offenses.
The criteria for a principal referral is as follows:
A student has been suspended for 15 or more days for acts of misconduct in Group Five of the CPS' Uniform Disciplinary Code... > Read More |
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Paul Anderson's journey From expelled junior to college sophomoreKimberly FornekIn the spring of 1997, Glen Whitfield, a math and science teacher at a safe school, was talking to a small group of seniors about applying for college. One student, Paul Anderson, threw down the gauntlet.
"Paul stood up and said, 'You are just trying to sell us pipe dreams. We've all been kicked out of school. You can't get me and none of these other people in [college]. No one wants us.'"
Whitfield's response: "I told Paul he would be the first person I got into school."
And he was. Today, Anderson is a sophomore at Rust College in Holly Springs, Miss. He was accepted... > Read More |
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Crawford a nurturing but strict placeKimberly FornekOutside a two-story office building across the street from DePaul University's Fullerton campus, teenagers press a button and wait to be buzzed in to school. As they straggle up to the second-floor classrooms, Principal Dora Phillips greets each one with a friendly hello. To those who are tardy, she offers an exaggerated "Good Morning." To those returning from an absence, it's a sincere, "We missed you yesterday."
Opened in fall 1997, Crawford First Education is a far cry from the public schools where its students got in trouble—mainly high schools in Districts 2 and 3, like... > Read More |
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Program loses seats as expulsions soarKimberly FornekThree years ago, the School Reform Board hastily launched an alternative schools program to remove disruptive students from regular schools. Rocky at the outset, the program, now called "safe schools," has yet to settle down.
"Basically, we started it up overnight," acknowledges Sue Gamm, the board's chief specialized services officer. "We knew we were going to tighten up the Uniform Discipline Code, and we didn't want kids expelled to the street."
Changes have come in school operators, program requirements, the kinds of students served and, this year, the number of seats... > Read More |
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Who's outLinda LenzeThe following schools and agencies have been dropped from Chicago's Safe Schools Program or withdrew themselves.
Aunt Martha's Youth Service Center
Career Works
Hamilton Life Institute's Nelson Mandela School
Nancy Jefferson Alternative School
Joseph Academy
Lawrence Hall Youth Service
Victor C. Neumann Association's Oak Therapeutic School
St. Joseph's Carondelet Child Center
Sullivan House-Child Welfare Agency
> Read More |
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Zigzag course taxes even veteran groupsKimberly FornekWhen the School Board's request for alternative school proposals went out in October 1995, Pamela Kennedy, a division director for Ada S. McKinley Community Services, thought her agency was in good shape to respond.
It already was operating a school for special education students from the Chicago Public Schools and had a history of serving children with emotional and behavior problems. As it turned out, even this venerable organization was in for a surprise.
It met the one-month deadline for submission of a proposal and managed to open alternative schools at five sites three... > Read More |
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What high schools say about Safe SchoolsRoma Khanna, Kimberly FornekWilliam Cheatham,
disciplinarian, Manley
One of the four students who returned from a safe school this year "is still a habitual behavior problem," he says. By January, the boy had been suspended for profanity and threatening a staff member. Cheatham says the boy's mother and uncle told him they believe he wants to return to the safe school. The alternative school "worked well" for the other three students. Since their return, only one has broken a rule: He didn't wear the required dress shirt to school one day.
Elizabeth Rolander,
assistant... > Read More |
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