Urbana School District Teaches Students at Cunningham Children’s School
You may not know that Urbana School District #116 has a presence at Cunningham Children’s Home. Gerber School is charged with educating the children who are residents there.
“Gerber School is technically a part of USD116 because it is located in Urbana. It is the school for all of the residents at Cunningham Children’s Home who cannot manage public school due to the severity of their behaviors. Since these students live at Cunningham Children’s Home, they are considered Urbana residents and thus residents of the school district as well. All Gerber students have a special education label ... for almost all of them this means they have the the Emotional/Behavioral disability (E/BD) label as their primary disability,” says Gerber School first-year Principal Shawna Scherer. She continues, “Most of the residents at Cunningham are placed there by DCFS and are wards of the state. We currently have students in grades 3-12. However, this could change. The ages we serve are completely based upon the referrals we receive.”
Scherer began her teaching career 11 years ago at Gerber School, and she feels called to work with students with special needs. “I am passionate about students with special needs ... in particular those with emotional/behavioral disabilities. While the prospect of applying for an administrative position in a general education school also provided some exciting new challenges, it would have been difficult to leave the students I have so enjoyed working with over the years. As cliché as it may sound, I truly believe these are the students I am called to work with,” Scherer explains.
Scherer says a small group of teachers work at Cunningham Children’s Home and report to her. “Our school has 7 classroom teachers and an art and PE teacher. So, we have one elementary teacher who keeps her students all day. Our two middle school teachers team and keep their students self-contained for most of the day, but have them go to the other teacher for 1 1/2 hours each morning. The rest of the day, the students are with their own teacher. Our H.S. is departmentalized, so the four teachers each teach one of the following subjects: science, reading/language arts, social sciences, and math. The H.S. students change classes each period. We have at least 2 teaching assistants in each classroom. We also have a Dean and two behavior specialists that assist when students are struggling,” Scherer says.
Children can also expect a quality academic education while at Cunningham Children’s Home. Scherer comments, “At Gerber, this means that we need to be diligent about the curriculum and methods we are using to educate our students. NCLB (No Child Left Behind Act) requires that all schools use research-based curriculum. Although Gerber does not count independently for NCLB purposes, our students deserve the same diligence in this area (quality of instruction) that general education students receive. While we must focus on improving our students' behavioral and social skills, we must also ensure that they are exposed to the very best curriculum and methods. Our students deserve this.”
For more information about Gerber School, please see www.cunninghamhome.org/programs/schools.htm.