Elmbrook’s Gem at Fairview South: Parents Want to Keep It Shining
Parents of students with special needs feel the District is pulling resources away from them.
A less known resource in the Elmbrook community is Fairview South - a facility dedicated to children that do not thrive in the traditional classroom, but are able to learn meaningful life skills at Fairview thanks to the incredible staff. Fairview serves children that are medically fragile, have significant intellectual disabilities or with Autism Spectrum Disorder.
The actions of the Elmbrook administration give some community members concern when they emailed that they would send individuals to be COVID tested at Fairview. Community members immediately recognized that sending potentially ill individuals to the same facility as medically fragile students did not make sense. Elmbrook ended up moving its testing site.
COVID Testing Initially Scheduled at Fairview
Parents of students at Fairview have noticed dwindling numbers and are concerned that the District will close the facility. Changes to programming at Fairview have not been discussed with parents or the community before being implemented.
Are dwindling numbers due to the recommendations Elmbrook received in September 2013 from Elise Frattura, who is the co-founder of ICS for Equity? Frattura's executive summary says "Elmbrook will make a strong effort to serve all students in the schools and classroom they would attend if they did not have a disability."
Elmbrook Special Education Report - September 2013
UPDATE: Thanks to parental outcry and the community's involvement, Elmbrook is renewing Fairview South through the 2023-2024 school year.