ISBE orders ‘corrective action’ for DeKalb School District 428 amid missing kindergartner complaint

DeKALB – The Illinois State Board of Education has ordered DeKalb School District 428 to comply with a “corrective action plan” after reviewing a complaint filed after a kindergartner went missing on their first day of school, according to documents obtained by Shaw Local News Network.

There was a time when Shannon Stoker thought building leaders at Founders Elementary School that she entrusted her son with had lost her son and her confidence in its ability to serve and protect children.

Stoker said she is not satisfied with how matters were handled by DeKalb School District 428, and there are still steps the district needs to take to make the DeKalb mom feel whole.

Shannon Stoker said what makes matters worse her 6-year-old son Stevie’s difficulty with communicating. It’s gotten so bad that both she and her husband, Andy, have reached out to their doctors for help.

“I don’t think he really likes school that much,” Shannon Stoker said of Stevie. “I think he’d rather stay home.”

[ 2 DeKalb kindergartners went missing on 1st day of school; their parents want accountability ]

Steven Ermilio, of DeKalb, said he takes issue with the district’s handling of the investigation.

Ermilio said his son Joah went missing on Aug. 19, when school officials lost track of him amid bus drop-offs. He said Joah had wrapped up his first day of kindergarten at Founders Elementary School when his parents noticed he hadn’t made it to the bus stop near their home for pick up.

Each parent aired their grievances in exclusive interviews with Shaw Local. They said they’re sharing their stories because they want to call for accountability in DeKalb School District 428’s bus-to-school procedures that they said failed their young children. While the district’s investigation into the matter remains ongoing, both parents said they have been dissatisfied with how it’s played out.

ISBE investigates, orders ‘corrective action’

In a letter dated Oct. 18, the district acknowledged in its findings and conclusions of an investigation that an error took place the first day of school, but did not indicate whether a specific policy or procedure was violated by misidentifying the child.

Steven Stoker filed an Oct. 9 complaint with the Illinois State Board of Education’s Special Education Department alleging his son’s individualized education program (IEP) was disrupted when he was misidentified on his first day of school and placed in a special education classroom instead of a general education classroom, as required by his IEP. Stoker’s complaint also alleged that his son did not receive proper school-to-home transportation as required by his IEP, according to a document obtained by Shaw Local.

ISBE reviewed Stoker’s complaint, spoke with him directly, requested and reviewed the district’s response to the complaint between Oct. 23 and Nov. 25, according to ISBE’s response obtained by Shaw Local.

In the Dec. 5 letter sent to district administrators by Mark Conyer, principal education consultant for ISBE’s Special Education Department, ISBE orders a corrective action plan in response to a complaint and investigation surrounding what happened to Stoker’s son.

The letter states the DeKalb School District has until June 6 to comply with the corrective orders.

The corrective action plan orders DeKalb schools to review and revise existing policies to ensure special education students receive services in accordance to their IEPs at the beginning of a school year. It also requires that the district provide ISBE with any other relevant documentation describing the actions that the district has taken to resolve the complaint including any training or corrective action plans for staff.

“In acknowledging the error, the district further stated that it was evaluating its arrival and dismissal procedures at all schools to avoid similar situations in the future,” according to ISBE’s Dec. 5 letter.

The ISBE letter stated DeKalb school district also is developing a parent handbook on transportation questions and will require increased coordination with its transportation vendor to ensure transportation protocols are implemented.

According to the letter, District 428 administrators said that the district is investigating staff involved in the Aug. 19 events, “and expects to take future disciplinary action.”

Shannon Stoker said while she is happy to have the state’s backing of her complaint against the district, she knows there’s much work to be done before she’s satisfied.

“I am grateful that the state finally got involved because [I] don’t think that they were going to do anything,” she said. “I’m happy that the state gave them orders, but they have until June. Let’s see what the response is in June. It was like pulling teeth trying to get information out of them, and I think the only reason I got anything was because the state took this seriously.”

Shannon Stoker said it’s been frustrating working with the district to get answers.

“I do appreciate the people at the district who have tried to be transparent, but I think that it really took the state getting involved to get a lot of answers,” she said.

Ermilio said he is fed up with the district’s handling of the matter.

“All we asked for was a verbal apology from the bus driver,” Ermilio said. “We didn’t ask for compensation. We didn’t ask for anyone to be put on blast. We just wanted the bus driver to verbally apologize to our son and to us.”

First Student, the district’s bus company vendor, did not respond to request for comment.

Ermilio said he has not been very lucky with getting prompt communication from the district.

“At this point, they’re just dragging their feet,” Ermilio said. “At this point, we’re looking to getting compensation, too, at this point because they’re [the] ones playing games with it. They don’t even want to look into the bus situation, get a different bus company or take accountability for whoever hired this bus company.”

In a letter dated Dec. 3, the district issued a decision on a complaint lodged by Ermilio.

“The District has met with First Student to review and re-evaluate the process for student drop-off and pick-up and to address communication concerns,” according to the letter. “The district has also developed a transportation handbook for families to better understand and reference when there are questions related to student transportation.”

Fortunately, Ermilio said Joah is doing better and is back to riding the school bus.

He said his son rides the same route to school, but there’s a different bus driver. Ermilio said a district human resources employee told him his son’s former bus driver is not on the job, but he did not know if it was permanent or temporary.

“He was a car rider for a while, but he was missing his friends,” Ermilio said. “He still has issues with the bus. He’s in therapy now. He was telling the therapist how he’s still scared of the bus because he’s afraid he’s going to be left behind again.”

Ermilio said he still doesn’t know if his son will get the apology he is seeking.

Both parents have received an apology from the bus driver.

“Since they’re not paying for his therapist and possibly no apology, we will be asking for some type of settlement,” he said.

District response

In a statement, the district said safety is its first priority.

“The District continues to focus on efforts to train and support staff to ensure the safety of our students, with a mindset toward continuous improvement in all of our processes,“ the statement reads. ”After a thorough review of transportation processes and procedures with our busing provider, First Student, we took decisive action to require additional training and staffing for drivers and aides to ensure that all transportation employees are strictly following all drop-off and loading protocols at all of our schools, implemented additional checkpoints and tools to further aid staff in being diligent in their responsibilities, and created a new Parent/Student Transportation Handbook to clearly articulate all processes and serve as a single point of reference for our families."

The district declined to comment further or allow for interviews with staff.

Board member Fred Davis and Board Secretary Ariel Owens declined to comment, and some board members did not respond to requests for comment.

Board Vice President Christopher Boyes said the district has been “fully cooperating” with the demands imposed by ISBE at Stoker’s request.

“They did ask the State Board of Education to launch an investigation into the district, which is ongoing,” Boyes said. “We have been fully cooperating with the State Board of Education.”

When asked if he believes the two families have been made whole, Boyes said it’s not something he could address.

“I can’t speak to how the two families feel,” Boyes said. “I can tell you that I feel we have done everything that we can on the district side to do right by the families involved.”