Best Special Education schools on Northwest suburbs to Newark? (Columbus: foreclosures, credit)

[adamsrp]

I'm moving to far east side of the Columbus area to relocate near kids/grandkids. I'm currently a certified Special Education teacher in Illinois (LBS 1) in pre-K thru 21. This is a 2nd career and would like to work in a top notch school as an Aide/Teaching Assistant. What are the quality schools between New Albany to Newark south to Pataskala?

I'm coming from a top notch HS in northern burbs of Chicago (respectful students, high achievers) where discipline is not at all a problem and TA's are plentiful for Special Needs students. I'm 61 years old and sure I could easily find a substitute position, but perfer working as an Aide for the benefits.

Comments?
Thank you

[Rosebush1]

Friends with a Down's syndrome child chose Gahanna Jefferson schools for a regional program attracting students from other districts. They were very pleased.
Marburn Academy is opening up in New Albany, specializing in learning disabilities. This is a private school.
There is a private school in Westerville specializing in autism, Oakstone Academy.

[wrightflyer]

Originally Posted by Rosebush1

Friends with a Down's syndrome child chose Gahanna Jefferson schools for a regional program attracting students from other districts. They were very pleased.

I believe this is Northeast School on North Hamilton Road in Gahanna. I would start here first. It is designated specifically for special needs students in the region and it seems pretty well kept. I believe it is a public school located in Gahanna but allows enrollment, as noted, from Gahanna Local Schools neighboring and other districts in the Columbus region (or at least Franklin Country).

The school is managed by the Franklin County Board of Developmental Disabilities. https://fcbdd.org/

As for the public school districts, the top ones would be New Albany-Plains Local Schools (serving New Albany and some of its surroundings), Big Walnut Local Schools (serving Sunbury and portions of the Galena area), Gahanna-Jefferson Local Schools (serving the city of Gahanna, small portions of Columbus, Mifflin Township and Jefferson Township), Granville Local Schools (serving Granville and areas west of Newark) and Southwest Licking Local Schools (serving portions of Pataskala closer to Newark) and Westerville Schools (serving Westerville, portions of Columbus, Minerva Park, portions of New Albany, and up into Genoa Township towards Galena) Westerville is likely the largest district out of these mentioned as far as student population and facilities managed.

Other schools that aren't as high performing on the immediate northeast side of the Columbus metro towards Newark include Newark City Schools, Columbus Public Schools and Licking Heights Local Schools (a new district, having only been around since 2000). Licking Heights is weird in respect to its age and development pattern. Squarely suburban in nature, having blown up from development between the late 98-08 and again between 12-present, it sits in multiple municipal and township jurisdictions. The district covers large swaths of Pataskala proper (between Dixon Road on the west and as far east as OH-310 - it does not include Pataskala's original village and anything west of OH-310 - portions of land west of OH-310 also do NOT attend Licking Heights Schools), portions of Columbus annexed land, some outskirts of Reynoldsburg and other unincorporated township areas. It stretches pretty much as far north of OH-161, the east-west highway between Newark and the I-270 Outerbelt for Columbus.

With all of this land and tremendous growth in the SW quadrant especially, the districts coffers are stretched and apparently overcrowding is a problem in the districts facilities. Resources are also said to be stretched considering their isn't much financial history to the district. Also, the new construction suburban housing developments suffered greatly during the 08-10 years as the homes were cheap and quickly built. With the development happening during the loan happy years of the early 2000's, foreclosures became a problem quicker and more frequently than other districts in the metro. While the area has recovered along with the rest of the metro in the last 5-7 years, it still tends to be the cheaper of places to build in the area. But it is a good area with lots of shopping (and traffic) on the main corridor in the district's southern reaches, East Broad Street.

On the outskirts of the area mentioned Reynoldsburg City Schools may also be considered. This area is mostly the city of Reynoldsburg, the district stretches from west to east roughly from McNaughten Road to Taylor Road and just south of East Broad Street to I-70 in the south. Johnstown-Monroe Local Schools covers Johnstown and township lands surrounding it north of the OH-161 corridor. It is rural in comparison to Westerville, Reynoldsburg, Gahanna, New Albany or Licking Heights. Newark would be a pseudo-urban district (but not sure if that is the correct designation). Granville and other portions of Licking Heights as well as Big Walnut would be exurban districts. Your best bets will be with the suburban districts, in most cases. New Albany would likely be the hardest to break into because of its size and reputation for excellence.

One note coming from Illinois. The primary and middle schools are part of the same districts as high schools. I can never understand why there are separate (or appear to be separate) districts for elementary and middle schools from the high schools.

Good luck with the search! Hope the breakdown helps!

[adamsrp]

Thank you for the concise update. New Albany is likely the furthest north and west I'll be able to go.
Any further information is appreciated - I've served students on the Autism spectrum, Down syndrome, MS, and all are appreciated. Discipline problems in Special needs schools I'd like to avoid.

Regarding Consoliodated school distrits in Illinois, they doo occur wuite a bit, usually in urban and inner ring cities and rural areas. The suburbs are notorious for having 3,4,5 different elementary districts feed into one high schoo districts, likewise i elementary district can feed into 2-3 high school districts. This was a result of districts being drawn up long before the suburban building boom.

Just about every governor in the last 50 years has called for consolidation to save adminstration costs, but this requires voters in all the consolidating districts to agree. As Illinois is mostly funded by property taxes, there isn't a large incentive on the wealthier districts to consolidate with those less well off.
There also teaching in high school generally receive higher salaries, regarded rightfully as having greater book knowledge as they teach AP and college credit classes.