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From
The Kansas City Star:
Alana Coons is a Northwood School success story.
The 8-year-old with cerebral palsy now eats solid foods. She can walk a straight line with the aid of a walker and has developed a reputation as a charmer, reaching out a hand to visitors to her classroom.
“There was a time when nobody but me or my husband could touch her,” said Angela Coons, who attributes much of her daughter’s progress to the two years of instruction she has received at Northwood.
One problem: Angela and husband Brandon live in Buckner, in the Fort Osage School District.
Northwood is operated by the Raytown School District. Budget cuts approved earlier this month by Raytown educators mean that Alana no longer will be able to attend Northwood, which currently serves special-needs students from Raytown and 12 surrounding Missouri districts.
Alana is among 24 out-of-district students — almost half the current student body — who won’t be there when school starts again in August.
“There is nothing we can do about it,” said Angela Coons. “We just have to start over.”
Educators on both sides of the state line — faced with dwindling revenues — are grinding through the same budgeting process, identifying what can be cut and what must be retained during the coming fiscal year. Raytown educators estimate the new guidelines for Northwood will save perhaps $200,000. That’s meaningful when they are looking to find about $4.7 million in savings during the next fiscal year.
But it’s a painful new reality for the Northwood learning community, made up of 49 Northwood students, their parents and instructors.
“I feel very shocked,” said Elise Gal (pictured), 20, a student from the Raymore-Peculiar district who will graduate this spring after arriving at Northwood at age 5.
“You know, I’m very upset right now. I just cannot believe it. I just can’t.”
Gal’s mother, Terri Yoder of Peculiar, feels badly for those parents whose children no longer will benefit from the Northwood staff.
“They saved my daughter’s life,” said Yoder, who describes Elise as developmentally delayed with a chromosome abnormality called duplication 20p.
“She was transformed into a completely different person. Honestly, if my daughter wasn’t graduating, I would find a way to keep her at Northwood,” she said. “I would move into the Raytown district if I had to.”
Only a few years ago, close to 80 students were enrolled at Northwood. But officials in surrounding districts, for a variety of reasons, have sent fewer students in recent years.
That has reduced the revenue the Raytown district has received in tuition payments.
That, in turn, has rendered Northwood, located in Kansas City at 4400 Sterling Ave., less financially efficient. In a funding environment that Raytown superintendent Allan Markley calls “unprecedented in my lifetime,” the program represented an opportunity to reduce costs and redirect resources directly to Raytown children.
“We have to set priorities, and we are using Raytown taxpayer dollars to educate Raytown students,” he said.
Markley acknowledged the impact on the Northwood staff and students.
“All those relationships are created over many years, and it’s tough,” he said. “But these are tough times.”
Now, students and teachers at Northwood must prepare.
“This isn’t anyone’s fault, but I’m still very sad,” said Marilyn Foerster, a special-education teacher at Northwood for 23 years.
The children, many of whom thrive on routine, may not completely understand the pending change, added Penny Russell, who teaches functional academics.
“It may not be clear to some of them until next year, when the school bus doesn’t go to Northwood,” she said.
The school serves kindergarten through 12th-grade students with moderate to severe intellectual disabilities, disabilities within the autistic spectrum, and those with multiple disabilities, including physical challenges. Older students often receive instruction in functional academics and pre-vocational skills. There’s a computer lab as well as a daily-living-skills classroom, where students gain experience in kitchen and laundry duties.
Many students go on community-based instruction trips, work with Scouting leaders and enjoy the company of Glory, a therapy dog.
“The school promotes a learning environment that allows students to reach their full potential,” said Rex Perry, the principal.
Yoder credits that environment with her daughter’s progress. Though her daughter received personal attention for behavioral issues, she also benefited, Yoder said, from the larger social community the Northwood students and instructors represented.
Last spring, her daughter reigned as Northwood prom queen.
“I know there has been so much talk about mainstreaming,” said Yoder, referring to the process that sometimes places special-needs students in traditional classrooms.
“But at Northwood the students get the special attention they need and deserve.”
Raytown educators were pleased to see representatives from all 12 school districts affected by the budget cut at an initial parents planning meeting.
All the educators have pledged to work with families, Raytown officials said, to find the most appropriate setting for the students affected.
The impact on the Northwood teaching staff remains unclear. The district is considering not renewing some probationary teaching positions, said Markley.
Several Northwood staff members are veteran instructors with tenured status. District officials, if necessary, would seek to find places within the district for tenured staff members, said Markley.
Meanwhile, the Northwood graduation ceremony is scheduled for May 21.
Five students will graduate. There will be a ceremony, including photographs of the students taken during their years at Northwood.
“I think that’s going to be an unbelievably hard day,” Foerster said.
From The Kansas City Star:
