St. Charles D303 to move ACCESS students again, despite pleas from parents

Parents of ACCESS program students in St. Charles demanded culpability from St Charles School District 303 school board members during Monday’s meeting for the poor decision making that led to yet another relocation of vulnerable students this fall.

To the dismay of parents, the board was considering transferring the ACCESS program students, currently attending Anderson Elementary, to Corron Elementary for the 2025-26 school year. For some of those students, it will be their fourth time switching schools since 2021.

Parent Alice Froemling told the board this is not the first time its decisions have negatively affected the students.

“This is such an egregious, obvious, terrible case of repeatedly hurting some of the most vulnerable children under your care,” Froemling said. “For this organization to deny its complicitness in that pattern is laughable.”

ACCESS is a support classroom for students grades K-5 with Autism Spectrum Disorder and similar disabilities. The program currently has nearly 50 students across six total classrooms, with two each located in Anderson, Fox Ridge and Munhall Elementary Schools.

Multiple changes to which schools ACCESS classrooms are housed in, as well district-wide changes to attendance boundaries, have occurred since the program began in 2017 with seven students at Ferson Creek Elementary School.

Next year some ACCESS students will attend a new elementary school for the fifth time, which parents say is extremely disruptive and detrimental, especially for students with autism.

Before the vote, parents and ACCESS program educators spoke out against the move during public comment, pleading with board members not to approve the transfer and demanding they take accountability for the poor planning and decision making that led them here.

Froemling urged the board to reject the recommendation to move the program, but also said the board members should acknowledge the massive disruption it will have on families rather than extending the usual assurances. She also asked that they own up to the mistakes made that led to this series of transfers and apologize to the families affected by them.

“To completely upend an autistic child’s educational experience year after year feels insurmountable,” Froemling said.

Jennifer Flowers, an ACCESS teacher at Anderson Elementary, told the board that after an incredibly difficult and stressful first year, ACCESS program students are now thriving at Anderson and another move would be highly disruptive to the progress they have made.

“This program isn’t just a service or a placement. It’s a community. It’s a place where students feel seen, valued and included,” Flowers said. “Choosing to move ACCESS for the ’25-’26 school year means choosing to take away their sense of belonging, relationships they’ve made and the great amount of success each child has made.”

Despite the concerns from parents and teachers, the board recommended relocating both ACCESS classrooms at Anderson to Corron in a split 5-1 vote at the April 14 meeting. Board president Joseph Lackner voted against the measure.

As approved, beginning in the 2025-26 school year, the ACCESS program will have two classrooms at Munhall Elementary, two at Fox Ridge Elementary and three at Corron Elementary, with the long-term goal of having three classrooms at each school.

The board also heard a presentation from several staff members about the recommendation, including Superintendent Paul Gordon and the principals of both Anderson and Corron Elementary Schools.

The move to Corron is expected to give the program more room for instructional space and greater flexibility to meet students’ specialized needs. In addition to more classroom space, Corron is also equipped with dedicated occupational therapy and sensory spaces outside the classrooms.

Other key reasons for the move were that it will minimize the need for future relocations in the program and provide additional placement options on the district’s west side.

While Board member Becky McCabe said she would be voting in favor of the move, she commended the parents advocating for their children, took accountability for the board’s past mistakes and extended an apology that incited an emotional response from the audience.

“It’s hard to be a board member on nights like these,” McCabe said. “I would like to apologize to the families. It wasn’t that we intended to hurt anybody, it’s just that we don’t have space in the right places, but moving kids as much as we’ve done is really hard. We shouldn’t have done it.”

School Board member Ed McNally admitted that he misspoke before voting to move the program in 2023, when he called the move “permanent.” This time, he said he hoped the move would be “as permanent as possible” before voting to transfer the program again.