[il-talk] Glenn Ellyn's Rock Center for Deaf and Blind Faces Imminent Closure

[Bill Reif]

This article, published in the Chicago Daily Herald Thursday, paints a 
pretty bleek picture.  Note the State's response, which treats the 
closure as just another Education Budget shortfall issue.  What are 
these kids' parents supposed to do with them?

Bill


Glen Ellyn's Rock Center for deaf and blind faces imminent closure
By Marco Santana
 | Daily Herald Staff
Paraprofessional Yvonne Robinson works with students in primary class at 
the Phillip
J. Rock Center in Glen Ellyn. The facility for blind and deaf kids is in 
danger of
running out of money next week.
Bev Horne | Staff Photographer

A student works with a touch screen in primary class at Phillip J. Rock 
Center in
Glen Ellyn. The facility has an annual budget of $3 million but if it 
does not receive
a payment from the state, it could close next week.
Bev Horne | Staff Photographer
Published: 7/29/2010 4:20 PM | Updated: 7/29/2010 10:28 PM

The state's only school for the deaf and blind will run out of money 
next week if
the state does not come through with the roughly $1 million it owes the 
school, officials
say.
Peggy Whitlow, chief administrator at the Philip J. Rock Center and 
School in Glen
Ellyn, said Thursday that she continues to pursue loans, but by the 
middle of next
week she will not be able to pay her staff.
Although Whitlow stopped short of saying the school will close, she did 
say she worried
about the facility's future.
"It's an extreme emergency," she said. "We're in a crisis and will no 
longer be able
to pay staff after next Wednesday. And it's a residential facility. I 
cannot take
care of the kids without the staff."
The deadline comes three months after officials borrowed money to make 
payroll from
April through this month. However, that money is about to run out.
"It puts the children, the school and myself in a very bad situation and 
an awkward
situation," Whitlow said. "It's unfair to those families. They don't 
know what is
going to happen to their children. They have enough challenges just 
getting through
each day and dealing with their issues. They don't need this looming 
over their head."
The 24-hour residential facility, northeast of Route 53 and Roosevelt 
Road, works
with 15 students 5 to 21 who are both deaf and blind.
They are taught life skills that range from learning how to read Braille 
to walking
and eating.
With an annual budget of $3 million, Whitlow said a payment of a Feb. 1 
voucher could
keep the facility open another six weeks. As the state seeks to secure 
$1.3 billion
in short-term loans, Whitlow said her facility has been pegged as one of 
the beneficiaries.
The loans would cover, among other things, past due vouchers sent 
forward by the
state board of education through Feb. 5.
A call to Gov. Pat Quinn's Office of Management and Budget was not 
immediately returned
Wednesday.
Illinois State Board of Education spokeswoman Mary Fergus said the 
situation continues
to weigh on state officials.
"We've been very concerned about all of our districts and the entities 
that are waiting
for funds from the state," she said. "We get calls weekly from districts 
that were
waiting for these funds. You never want to see programs closing or cuts 
to classrooms
or cuts to education."
A major concern has been little to no direction from the state, said 
Gary Ofisher,
director of operations for Keeneyville Elementary School District 20. 
Keeneyville
serves as the Rock Center's fiscal agent.
"We cannot keep taking care of the kids without any state revenue," he 
said, "and
the state has been in no communication whatsoever. We have to deal with 
what we have
to deal with. But we can't issue payroll with no money."
Ofisher said the school will likely close if no payments are 
forthcoming. Although
the center has met its last two payroll dates with borrowed money, the 
state's financial
crisis makes it more difficult to secure loans.
"What shocks me is total lack of communication and lack of honesty," he 
said. "The
state's in terrible condition, but hiding under a rock doesn't solve any 
problems.
I feel sorry for the kids. That's where my real anger comes from."
As the board of education blames the comptroller and the comptroller 
blames the General
Assembly for lack of payment, Ofisher said the students are the ones who 
ultimately
suffer.
"We're going to have to send them home," he said. "These are the most 
hard-hit children.
They can't fend for themselves. What's wrong with our state? This is 
insane."