HAHIRA — Several concerned parents and administrators attended the Lowndes County Board of Education meeting Monday night, hoping to hear the county’s plans of placement for a group of special needs students.

As the system looks to begin renovations in the upcoming months, the board has been evaluating several options of placement for students attending the Westside alternative school. Westside currently serves three different groups of system and some area students who have a need for educational, instructional and classroom setting options, other than those provided in regular education facilities.

In addition to housing the system’s Performance Learning Center and an alternative school for students labeled as chronically disruptive, Westside serves about 61 students through the Comprehensive Psycho Educational Services Program.

CPES is a component of the Georgia Psychoeducational Network. Funds for the program are provided through a special legislative grant and federal sources. In Lowndes County, Dee Wood serves as CPES regional director, and she spoke to the board Monday about the benefits of the program.

“CPES is an extension of the local schools so any referrals are made through the school system, none are court ordered. Each student is enrolled in a school and homeroom, and our goal is to return students to their regular schools. Some go for half days and others become full-time students,” Wood told the board.

She added that more than one-third of the CPES students are transitioned to some degree back into the traditional school setting, and spoke of a number of outings taken during the year by groups of CPES students to various schools and entertainment functions.

Programs such as CPES are designed with the objective of providing special education services for students with severe emotional and behavioral disorders and students with autism, ages 3 –21. In the CPES classroom setting, class size is kept to a minimum of 10 students and staffed with a lead teacher and a paraprofessional to insure that each student is able to receive adequate attention.

As renovations begin in the upcoming months to convert Westside into an elementary school, the board has began looking at a temporary two-year placement option students in the CPES program.

“Initially, my idea was to hold CPES on the Westside campus during the renovation, but that would pose a serious safety hazard. In two years, it will be placed at Parker Mathis, but there currently isn’t enough room there to house it. Even if we could afford to rent portables for $250,000 to $350, 000 per year, they’d have to build them and they couldn’t be ready by Aug. 1. The only place in our system with enough empty space to house the program is Pine Grove,” Superintendent Steve Smith said.

Pine Grove Elementary Principal Mickie Fisher made a presentation to the board and parents identifying the specific location of the CPES program, if moved to the elementary campus. Pine Grove would only serve CPES students through grade 8 and the students would be placed in the far left of the campus in the old media center building. High school CPES students and a few middle school students would be served on the high school campus.

At Pine Grove, all student needs would be accommodated in one building space, including private rest rooms and a lunch room facility, limiting the need or opportunity for interaction between the campus’ two groups of students. Smith also said that he would hire an additional resource officer if necessary to alleviate parental concerns.

Although nearly everyone in attendance supports the CPES program and its students’ right to learn, several parents expressed their concerns.

“My son will be in third grade next year and he likes Pine Grove, but I’m disturbed by hearing that some of these students have chronically inappropriate behavior. I’m concerned about what my son could see and hear. What type of behavior could these middle school aged students show my child? You can’t keep them separate at all times, children are everywhere,” said parent Sarah Hooks.

Dawn McClendon is the mother of a child who attends the Westside CPES. She shared her faith in the program and its administrators.

“I had reservations about the program initially, too, because I didn’t have knowledge of it and I hadn’t seen the program in action. This is the most skilled and compassionate staff that you’ll ever meet. They teach kids how to overcome issues and have success in life. And these kids, they are not dangerous students that are going to try and hurt people. They just want a chance to succeed and all we want is a place for them to learn,” she said.

The board will hear parent and community concern regarding the issue on Thursday before making a decision on the issue. Anyone wishing to ask questions, or share concerns on the issue are invited to attend a PTO meeting Thursday night at Parker Mathis Elementary School beginning at 7 p.m.