Students identified as not being ready to return to a regular school environment receive additional counseling support and are periodically reevaluated to determine when they are ready to be integrated into a regular school population or if alternative schools are better able to serve their needs. Some students who continue to exhibit adjustment problems may be referred to one of CPS Safe Schools or other alternative facilities, which are specifically designated to serve them without disrupting the regular school environment. Students who are ready to return to regular schools are provided support by teams of counselors, student intervention specialists, probation officials and youth investigators at their schools. Students also may be referred to the Saturday C.A.R.E. Program, which provides additional group and individual counseling to them and their parents, and a curriculum of character education, moral judgment and parenting skills. There are 100 elementary schools involved with this program.
Students learn core academic subjects and receive support services.
The goal is to return the student to their home school. Offers first-time offenders of drug, alcohol or other nonviolent offenses an alternative to expulsion. Students attend classes on eight consecutive Saturdays, and parents are required to attend two sessions. Students who do not complete the program are expelled from their regular school and referred to an alternative school. CPS Nancy B. Jefferson Alternative School, housed at the Juvenile Detention Center, and the Consuella B. York Alternative High School, housed within the Cook County Jail, also provide academic courses for detained students at the appropriate grade level for students aged 12 to 21.