Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools is considering closing two schools that serve students with significant developmental needs.
Officials would relocate the roughly 150 students attending The Special Children’s School and the Center for Exceptional Children into district-owned schools with available space.
But parents have major concerns about the potential move.
Andrea Gómez Cervantes has a four-year-old son named Gael. He has a rare genetic condition, and can only eat through a gastrostomy tube. When he gets upset, she says he likes to pull it out.
“If it's out too long, he would need surgery to replace it. So you only have like a 20 to 30-minute window to put it back in," she said. "And staff are not allowed to do that, just the nurse.”
She’s one of many parents worried about how nurse staffing may change as students are relocated from sites specially designed to serve their needs, into under-enrolled district schools that will need to be upgraded to be accessible.
The move is a cost-saving idea officials began talking about over the last few months.
The district spends roughly $750,000 a year on the lease, utilities, maintenance, custodial and food services for The Special Children’s School and The Center for Exceptional Children.
But Gómez Cervantes and many others worry their kids won’t be understood or treated as well in a school that predominantly serves typically-developing kids.
“Society views disabilities as something that is deviant, something that’s different," she said. "But when you're in a place that disabilities is the center, it becomes the norm.”
The district’s Exceptional Children department has already been the subject of major cuts over the last year amid the budget crisis. That’s top of mind for Jordan Davis, whose daughter, Willow, has spina bifida.
“Why are we getting hit again? Like our children, who need the most care possible and all the options available, we're the ones that are suffering," Davis said.
District officials say they’re conducting a cost-benefit analysis.
"We know that these are some of the most vulnerable students in our district population," said Chief Academic Officer Paula Wilkins at a recent committee meeting. "And so having stability so they don't feel the transition, so that they have the staffing and supports needed, we of course want to make sure that that is front and center."
Officials will present options to the school board on May 12. Lease plans need to be finalized by the end of June.