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Reversing previous plans, Chicago Public Schools won’t cut teaching and support staff at Montefiore Elementary, a school for emotionally troubled boys who have been referred out of neighborhood schools across the city. The cuts could have foreshadowed Montefiore’s closure.

But the future of the school, at 1310 S. Ashland, remains uncertain. And Montefiore Principal Mary Ann Pollett is already worried that, if CPS doesn’t refer more students to the school, Montefiore will again face closure.

According to Pollett, Montefiore could take in up to 88 students. As of last week, the school had 68 students on its roster, but had provided services to 85 over the past year, she said. (Those who left were in the adult or juvenile correctional systems, drug rehab, another special school or had moved from Chicago.) On its Web site, CPS lists Montefiore as having enrolled 62 in the 2008-09 school year.

Pollett expects another 20 students to leave the school by the fall, leaving just 48 students enrolled.

“Even if they sent us the same number we were sent last fall, it’s not going to fill us up,” she said. “When our numbers are low, when the Office of Special Services is not sending us children, our per-pupil costs go up, and they justify closing staff positions.”

Data provided by CPS suggests the district is shifting toward private therapeutic schools for its emotionally disturbed students. In all, as of June 26, 863 CPS elementary and high school students were enrolled in therapeutic day schools.

Of that population, 290 are enrolled in high schools and elementary schools operated directly by CPS, with the remaining 573 studying at private schools contracted by the board of education.

Whether the students who need to attend therapeutic schools are doing so was recently a topic at the city council education committee meeting.

At the hearing, the Chicago Teachers Union presented the results of an unscientific survey of members that suggested students who would qualify for attendance in such specialized schools as Montefiore are not getting referred to them.

Nearly 77 percent of more than 1,700 teachers who responded to the survey either agreed or strongly agreed with the statement that, “There are students in my classroom with emotional or behavior problems who are in need of special education services but are not receiving these services.”

The finding tracks with data collected in 2007 by the Chicago Principals and Administrators Association, which found school leaders troubled with how — and whether — students with special needs are getting referred to schools that have the systems in place to help them, according to Clarice Berry, the association’s executive director.

“The major ribbon of frustration that ran through all of them was the difficulty getting seriously disturbed or violent children placed in appropriate settings,” Berry said.

The results of the mailed survey were never publicly released because CPAA didn’t want to “embarrass” the district, according to Berry. But the results confirmed what many principals were telling CPS, she said.

Berry believes the policy has left schools such as Montefiore and Las Casas Occupational High School, which was proposed for closure earlier this year, on the edge.

“Each year, they’re closing more and more opportunities at Montefiore and all these kids are left in regular classrooms with teachers not able to meet their needs,” she said of CPS.

Monique Bond, a CPS spokeswoman, said the district is taking a comprehensive look at how special-needs students are dealt with.

“We have to evaluate what plans are in place for schools right now. The worst thing we can do is direct students to a program that may not be the right program,” Bond said. “We need to have the right funding, the right resources. We need to have all that infrastructure in place.”

Asked if the district planned to refer more students to Montefiore, Bond said CPS is still trying to figure out the school’s role.

“At the end of the day, we have to consider students. So I just wouldn’t give a position one way or another at this point because we haven’t had the chance to understand how they would fit into the plan.”

Contact: mmaidenberg@chicagojournal.com

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