When John (not his real name) first showed up at the Southern School a few years ago, he was so miserable he wanted to kill himself. “This was a teenager who had been sexually abused by his mother,” says Michael Johnson, education director at the north-side private school for children with emotional and learning disabilities. “He talked about walking close to cars. But he got himself together, graduated, and is now in the Navy.”
Barnet is also president of the Illinois Affiliation of Private Schools for Exceptional Children, which has long fought the board on the reimbursement issue. Board officials contend that the affiliation has distorted the consequences of mainstreaming. “First of all, let me say that I believe there will always be a need for private schools in special education,” says Hehir. “I understand that many people in the private schools are concerned about their futures. But we are required under the law to see that children with emotional disabilities learn to get involved with the rest of the world, and it may not be in their best interest to segregate them in a private school.”
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Students are referred to Southern by officials in the public school system, which then reimburses Southern on a per-pupil basis. “Our goal is to see to it that many of them can return to the public school,” says Kaplan. “We want them to be better able to handle the world.”
The drop in referrals also reflects Hehir’s strategy for revamping special education. “State and federal law requires us to place students with disabilities in schools that meet their needs,” he says. “We have had a historical reliance on private schools, which means there has been an exclusion of some kids from public schools. Many of these private school programs are excellent, and some are not. The point is that almost all are segregated. And what we are trying to do is serve children in the least restrictive environment, which means as close to their nondisabled peers as possible.”
Nonetheless, many private school administrators remain skeptical, particularly in light of their long-standing battle over what reimbursement should be based on. For years the board reimbursed each private school on the basis of how many students actually attended rather than how many were enrolled. Then last year, after negotiations and threats of lawsuits, the board changed its policy and started paying on the basis of enrollment. A few months later, however, the board flip-flopped again and began paying on the basis of attendance–much to the chagrin of private school operators. “The big issue has always been the truant kids, who do not tolerate school in any form,” says Pamela Barnet. “They’re ghosts on the books of the public schools. We work hard to make our schools places where they would want to come–and we should be compensated.”
