Feb. 23--School District U46's Gifford Street High School will close its doors to one mission at the end of this school year while opening up for another when classes resume for the 2016-2017 year.
The Elgin school has been the home of the district's alternative education program since 1981, according to Teri Lozier, assistant superintendent for secondary schools.
Gifford has offered students credit recovery, as well as GED options in the past decades, she said. It also offered a program where parents could come earn high school credits.
But with the advancement of technology, each of the district's high schools now offers similar programs, rendering Gifford's current mission moot, she said.
"The need for a credit recovery school went away," Lozier said.
Instead, the school will reopen this fall with "a trauma-informed approach to education," aimed at helping out students who are dealing with instability and tumult when they leave school each day, Lozier said.
"Our goal is to provide an environment that is designed to meet the needs of students who have needs that cannot be addressed in a comprehensive high school environment," Sanders wrote in a recent message to staff.
Students who attended Gifford will be able to receive the same services at their home high schools, she said.
They can also opt to apply to be a part of Gifford's new status and will receive first priority in the application process, Lozier said.
In his staff message, CEO Tony Sanders said Gifford Street "has faced an identity crisis" in the past.
"Is it a credit recovery program? Is it for students who are struggling in a comprehensive high school?" he wrote. "With each high school having up to 50 seats available, we've seen a mixture of both."
District officials hope the new designation will alleviate some of that confusion.
Lozier said the district will aim to open the school in the fall, initially offering it to 180 students while eventually expanding to between 300 and 500 students.
Reopening the school under the new mission will require retraining of teachers, she said, so that they can handle situations and understand that different adverse things going on in a student's life.
Tenured teachers will have the option to undergo the training or be relocated, according to Lozier.
About 20 of the school's 25 teachers are tenured, she said.
Lozier said the district is also working with community partners and hopes to get a full-time social worker, counselor and nurse on staff to help troubled students deal with life outside the classroom.
Staff hopes to start working in earnest on the new school designation next month, Lozier said, as well as a potential name change sometime in the future. The school board will be briefed on the changes at an undetermined date, she said.
geoffz@tribpub.com
