Welcome to a view of Lockport's most expensive school to operate on a per-pupil basis. It's an operation Lockport School District administrators don't wish to talk about too much. In other cities such an operation might be called an "alternative school." In Lockport the word masquerade game goes one step further.
The
cost here is not building cost which is leased from St. John The Baptist Church on
Chestnut Street at a very modest yearly fee. The building used to be St.
John's Elementary School before the Catholic elementary and middle schools in Lockport
consolidated to DeSales on Chestnut Ridge.
The big cost here is teachers, aides, and staff. The school apparently runs with a student - staff ratio of nearly 2:1. That is, for every two students there is about one school district employee. Such expense is not readily revealed by the school district. However, September 21, 2000 bomb scare at the school resulted in an evacuation count made by the Fire Department: Number of students: 45. Number of on-site staff (teachers, aides, maintenance, administrators, professional, etc.): 21.
This school is set up to deal with problem students who might otherwise be placed at the mainstream schools throughout the city. Here, those with "special needs" are given special treatment by a building overstaffed with school district employees. The idea is that the educational process in the city's other schools will not be disrupted by having to deal with the special problems that are encountered here on a daily basis.
If it were not for the overstocking of staff, the project would probably be as effective way as any to deal with the serious problems this school must engage. However, it appears the "opportunities" here are mainly for increased staffing and hiring by the school district. (10/29/00)
School Events
A teacher at the school told Lockport Police that $191 in cash was taken from her purse which had been left in the kitchen area. Mary M. Wohleben said the money disappeared on Thursday, 11/9. (11/10/00)
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