Washington school board says moving alternative school students ‘not a dead issue’

Although the decision to move an alternative education program to Washington Park Elementary School has been rescinded, it is not a “dead issue,” members of Washington School Board said Monday night.
There is probably still a need to move students in the program, which is housed at the Clark School on Allison Avenue in Washington, because the structure “is in very bad shape,” said Jeffrey Fine, the school board’s president, and is “not worth putting money into.”
“We have to have some further discussions,” he said.
Last month, the board approved a plan that would have moved the multidistrict alternative education program, administered by Intermediate Unit 1 and serving students in grades seven to 12 with behavior problems, to the basement level of Washington Park Elementary School. IU1 Director Charles Mahoney told the board the Clark School was too big for the program. Mahoney later rescinded the decision, citing the fact the intermediate unit is in the second year of a three-year contract with the participating school districts, and he wanted to determine enrollment numbers in a new contract period before they switch to a new facility.
The short-lived plan to move students in the alternative education program to Washington Park Elementary stirred concerns among some parents who worried the students would have been a menace to younger pupils, even though the older students would have been isolated from the rest of the building, using a separate entrance and cafeteria.
On Monday, some school board members decried the uproar, specifically mentioning the tone of some of the comments that were made on social media.
“We’re all family here,” said John Campbell. He also explained he didn’t like the way students in the alternative education program were “vilified.”
“They’re kids,” he said. “I hope the next time something like this comes up, we can all sit down together.”
Fellow board member Marsha Pleta said, “I look at these children and I think of all the vicious things that were said about them.” She also said, “It’s really insulting to think we would put our children in harm’s way.”
Fine said the issue of where to put the students in the alternative education program would be discussed further when the board of the intermediate unit meets June 28.