District's special-needs school could get the ax

BY DANIELLE MEDINA
Correspondent

BRICK TOWNSHIP - Less than four years after it opened its doors to welcome special education students back into the school district, the Educational Enrichment Center (EEC) faces an uncertain future.

The school, located next to the central administration building on Hendrickson Avenue, was not included in the district's proposed 2007-08 budget detail provided to the public on March 12.

"We haven't made any final decisions," Schools Superintendent Thomas L. Seidenberger said last week. "But I'm not going to lie. We have discussed closing it."

The EEC, which opened in September 2004, was built to educate special-needs children who were previously sent out of district for schooling.

"Nobody is abandoning the program," Seidenberger said. "But when you have a [state-imposed tax levy] cap, you have to look at your resources in a creative way. It's not going to sit empty."

Seidenberger declined to comment on what the building might be used for.

Most of the parents interviewed said they were shocked by the possibility of the school closing.

"Nobody saw this coming," said parent Melanie McGackin. "My biggest gripe is that this is supposed to be a Board of Education, not a board of recreation. For there to be an $800,000 line item for extracurricular activities but your closing a school is terrible."

The district has space to accommodate the special education students at its other schools, because of declining enrollment in the regular student population, Seidenberger said.

But parent Timothy Doyle said that the environment at the EEC is perfectly suited to serving the needs of autistic children, where a regular education school can be too overstimulating and confusing.

"It's a quiet, calm, nurturing atmosphere," Doyle said. "You have physical, occupational and speech therapy rooms for them. In another district school, they'll be doing their therapy in a hallway."

The 20,000-square-foot EEC, set on one floor, has eight classrooms, a small-group instruction area, a multipurpose room, a life skills area, and several offices for the director and child study team members. Each classroom is equipped with a television and a sink area, and the life skills area features a teaching kitchen with working appliances.

The EEC building also houses the district's technology department and has an area set aside for a staff development center.

The district built the $3.6 million school after voters approved a 2001 bond referendum.

The EEC has 70 students, ranging in age from 3-14, and 47 full- and part-time staff members, said Principal Cynthia Garrett

Garrett said of the 70 children, 52 are special education students and 18 are regular education students, who are a part of the preschool inclusion program.

"I think it's terrible that somebody thinks that closing the school is a way of saving on a budget," said Doyle, who agreed to bring his then-10-year-old son back into the district to attend the EEC four years ago. "We were told that he would be here until he was 21 and that this would be his last stop."

Doyle said that if the EEC closes, the district will force him to send his son back out of district for his education, with the district covering the tuition costs until his son turns 21. And he said he knows of at least five other families who feel the same way.