District 155 Votes To Close Haber Oaks Campus

CRYSTAL LAKE, IL – After just a decade in Cary, District 155's Haber Oaks campus will close. The alternative education campus caters to the district's special education students with emotional and/or behavioral challenges and houses the district's therapeutic day program. On Tuesday evening, the District 155 school board voted to close Haber Oaks and move its 90 to 100 students to the first floor of Crystal Lake South High School starting in August, the Northwest Herald reports.

Parents from both Crystal Lake South and Haber Oaks attended Tuesday's school board meeting and those from both schools said the district is not addressing the needs of their children, the Northwest Herald reports.

Alice McCoy said her granddaughter, a Haber Oaks student, was 10 when she lost her 21-year-old brother in a car accident. Her granddaughter has suffered from anxiety, depression and panic attacks ever since, according to the Northwest Herald. Alice fears her granddaughter will stop going to school altogether once Haber closes.

“The Haber Oaks students feel protected and comfortable, and their individual needs are addressed at Haber Oaks,” McCoy said and added that most students don't feel comfortable in a traditional, larger high school setting. “It’s like taking someone who is afraid of heights and putting them on the roof of the Empire State Building.”

Haber Oaks Campus also houses a credit recovery program for students in District 155 who have not experienced successful progress towards a high school diploma in the traditional comprehensive high school setting. This program serves students in grades 9-12 from Cary Grove, Crystal Lake Central, Crystal Lake South, and Prairie Ridge High Schools. Students take core classes in English, math, science and social science. Elective courses are limited. In 2015-16, an art course as well as various online learning opportunities were added for students. Some students return to their home high schools for elective coursework.

Haber Oaks Campus is staffed with eight full time special education teachers and a part time art teacher. Social work services and psychiatric consultations are also available.

The decision to move Haber Oaks student population to the first floor of Crystal Lake South comes as District 155 continues to see its enrollment drop, according to the Northwest Herald. The district chose Crystal Lake South since it has the most space. D155 will spend $700,000 to renovate Crystal Lake South and will save $70,000 per year in operation costs to close Haber Oaks.

More via the Northwest Herald

Photo caption: Haber Oaks Campus/Photo via GoogleMaps