On Thursday April 6 we received a letter my sons program was moving to John Muir in Hoffman Estates. His program has been at Stevenson for a long time and i'm told they had adjustments made almost 30 years ago for private bathrooms, wheelchair accessibility, inclusive playground. The kids are thriving, they have made friends with their peers both in special education and general education, they have amazing staff and therapists. As of now, Muir cannot accommodate children like Domenic. They are not as accessible to wheelchairs, no inclusive playground, no private bathroom/changing areas. I am also told by multiple people, this school has a bad rep for fights/bullying. When this was brought up the district said they’ll “do construction "before the next school year which starts end of August, but they have not put that in writing still.

We found out (again not from the district since they will not say anything) that the autism program is expanding in the district and will be taking place of Domenic’s program/classrooms, so that’s why they are moving it.

Now the only thing I can think of, is why would they move a program to a school that is not as accessible and cannot accommodate the most medically complex children in the district, a school they would need to do construction on and spend funds to make it accessible-when the kids are already doing well where they are now. Why can’t my child and his peers remain where they are at? The only thing I can think of is Stevenson is a higher ranked D54 school, Muir is not. The more popular program needs to be at a good school. It looks better to the district and incoming enrollments. I do not know if this scenario is true-but this is what my assumption is since the District has not provided any update or reasoning behind this.

Why is my child and his peers not important? To just say well too bad we are moving you. Not because their isn't space, but because you’re saying my child and his classmates are not as important. When does the excuse of "unfortunately special needs programs move" end? Our kids go through SO much in their lives, why can't they let them have their joy they find in their school without taking that away from them.

Please help us parents!  Keep our kids in their classrooms.  Keep our children where they know best.  This move will be detrimental to so many of our kiddos.