Jun 6, 2018 4 min read

The decision to move a multidistrict alternative education program to Washington Park Elementary has been rescinded by Intermediate Unit 1.

Charles Mahoney, executive director for IU1, said since the agency is in its second year of a three-year contract with the school districts, he rescinded the decision to change locations until he knows what enrollment numbers will be under the next contract. The school is presently located at the Clark School in Washington.

“It may end up that we have fewer numbers and that facility would be too large for us,” he said. “Or we may get higher numbers and need a larger facility. It just wasn’t a good match at this time.”

Mahoney and Washington Superintendent James Konrad said they are still interested in moving the program to the elementary school, but it won’t happen in the 2018-19 school year.

“We’ll revisit this in the future,” Konrad said. “They want to just make sure they have future commitments from the districts they’ve been providing services for. We’re still interested in having it be housed within the district.”

Washington School Board last month approved the program’s move out of the Clark School and into the basement level of Washington Park Elementary, allowing the district to continue renting facilities for the program to the IU1. Mahoney said the Clark School and its maintenance was too big for the alternative school program, which serves up to 23 students in grades 7 through 12 with behavior problems from school districts in the county that pay to send them.

Mahoney’s decision to postpone a move comes just one week after parents in the district voiced concerns about it. About 70 people attended a tour of the facilities last week and questioned Konrad and the district about moving the program into the elementary building. Most of the concerns were for safety based on the perception of the students who attend the program.

“I was kind of disappointed in what they were saying about the quality of students that go into that program,” Mahoney said. “It was a disservice to those children. I don’t think they needed that scrutiny at this time.”

Students can be referred into the program for a variety of reasons, according to the IU’s website, including “disregard for school authority,” “violent or threatening behavior on school property,” “possession of a weapon on school property” and crimes on school property, among others.

Students in the program aren’t necessarily under court-ordered supervision, but an armed juvenile probation officer is present at the Clark building.

The program was going to be on the same floor as the after-school Leader Program, which is run by the county juvenile probation office and involves closer supervision of participants. Students in the alternative program would have used a separate entrance and cafeteria, and the gates in the hallways and barriers on stairs would have isolated them from the rest of the school.

“There was a lot of misinformation from the public as to the type of kids that are in that program,” Mahoney said. “These are kids who for various reasons need a second chance.”

He said that recent school shootings and violent threats in schools across the country have heightened parents’ awareness and concerns for school safety. He said that’s a cultural change that “doesn’t come easy.”

“The whole culture has changed in regards to school safety in general,” he said. “But the violence we’re seeing in society and schools today is not being done by kids in alternative school settings, but by kids that have been flying under the radar and somehow slipping through the cracks in regular settings.”

Konrad said the district listened to the concerns of district parents and even concerns from people in no way connected to the district. He said the move isn’t completely off the table, and will be revisited at a later date.

“I have always kept my door open so I could address any concerns from the public at large and more importantly the parents and students in our school district,” he said. “We’re just trying to look at the best interest for kids.”