WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Another school for Montgomery County’s most disturbed students is slated for a critical cut to its teaching staff next year, sparking outrage in the community over declining standards of education for the county’s most challenging students.

Rockville’s John L. Gildner Regional Institute for Children and Adolescents, serving students with disorders from bipolarity to schizophrenia, will likely lose five of its 31 teachers and one of its three supervisors responsible for ensuring the specialized needs of the school’s 112 students.

The news comes in the wake of the school system accelerating the closure of Rockville’s Mark Twain program, also for psychologically troubled students, and the phasing out of school-based “learning centers” for special-needs students requiring more isolated classrooms. Officials expect several Mark Twain students will move to the school in spite of the staffing cuts, in addition to an unspecified number due to the spring closure of a similar program in Prince George’s County.

“If they erode this program, where will these kids go?” asked CEO Tom Pukalski, explaining that the school is a student’s option after all else has failed. “You have to educate them, and if you’re going to take staff away that’s been a quality staff, well, that’s a real shame.”

Pukalski, who is funded through Maryland’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, said Montgomery County is responsible for the school’s educational component but the state provides all else: the building; utilities and residential services for 60 of the students; nurses and social workers; and psychiatric care for students and their families.

Elyana Goldwater was adopted at 10 years old, after suffering a childhood of severe abuse and neglect. Now a ninth-grader, she has intense mood swings and post-traumatic stress disorder, but through the program has been able to thrive and become an honor roll student.

“Before I had a child who needed this type of school, I would’ve thought it was a bad idea,” said her mother, Janice Goldwater. “But in order for her to get better, she has to be in this type of environment.”

School officials say central office staff is reviewing options for the program.

“To fulfill our legal and moral [obligations] is very important,” said school board member Pat O’Neill. “But in tight budget times, everything needs to be analyzed.”

lfabel@dcexaminer.com