Harvard City Council approves school program at Lutheran church by unanimous vote

Beginning in the upcoming 2023-24 school year, Harvard School District 50 students who were going to specialized programs as far away as Elgin and Rockford now will have a program in their community, Superintendent Corey Tafoya said.

The Harvard City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved a special use permit for Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church and Chancelight Inc. The permit allows classrooms at the church, 505 E. Blackman St., operated by Chancelight as “an alternative education program for students with emotional and behavior disabilities and challenges,” according to city documents.

Not all neighbors of the church were in favor of the permit. A petition with 27 signatures was presented to the council, asking members to reject the request.

“We, the undersigned, are Harvard residents located near the proposed location for Chancelight Inc. Alternative Education Program. We object to the use of this location, Trinity Lutheran Church classrooms. We believe Chancelight Inc. can find a more suitable location in Harvard that is more set back from the street and other members of the community. The student population Chancelight will be serving have behavioral and emotional challenges that can create a high-risk environment. This is a safety concern and we object,” the petition reads.

“Their time on the bus is greater than the time they are actually learning. We need to educate them here.”

—  Harvard District 50 Superintendent Corey Tafoya

Two of those who signed the petition also spoke against the plan.

Resident Linda Morton said she thought Chancelight could find a suitable location “that is more set back” from the street. The church “is directly across the street from families and kids who play in the front yard.”

Students in the program may be there because they were expelled or are in the juvenile justice system now, Morton said.

For the district, holding classes at the church means students can be a part of the community they live in, Tafoya said.

All of the students who would attend classes at the school already are enrolled in Harvard schools, but are sent to programs outside of the district now, Tafoya said.

“They get shipped out all over northern Illinois,” he said. “Their time on the bus is greater than the time they are actually learning. We need to educate them here.”

By sending the students, ranging from grades six through 12, outside of the district “we are not taking care of them locally or providing them an education with their peers. They feel that when we ship them out of our community” and do not feel welcome where they live, Tafoya said.

Chancelight was searching for a location to house the program, said Rachel Black, vice president of business development. “We were approached by Trinity Lutheran” about using the second-floor classroom space, Black said.

There are 14 students currently eligible for the Chancelight program, Tafoya wrote in an email.

Therapeutic day school tuition ranges in cost from $29,000 to $49,000 per pupil or about $462,346 a year, according to information provided by Melissa Geyman Sell, District 50′s chief financial officer. Including transportation costs, that comes out to about $1.5 million a year for that population, she said. In comparison, the Chancelight tuition cost would drop to an estimated $413,000.

Chancelight will outfit the church’s classrooms, a cafeteria “and hire local educators and social workers. The district will maintain oversight of students and provide transportation,” district officials said in a release.

“Entering a partnership with ChanceLight Education to open this new facility is a lower expense than the district is currently paying for off-site tuition and transportation,” according to the release.