I just want to clarify a few things as someone whose child has used these services. I am not surprised that Brightlift is expensive. They also had major staffing issues and didn't have enough drivers for a while. My guess is pay is low as well, so the drivers are not always that great and the vehicles are not exactly top of the line (my kid was in a car with several others when the driver announced she couldn't stop and kept going until she got to the next exit on the Edens and I heard from my kid well before I heard from the company). The "taxis" in some cases are minivans that pick up multiple kids from Evanston who are going to the same outplacement school. Sometimes the car doesn't show up. Sometimes it's super early. Sometimes it's late. There is another company called Citicare that ETHS uses. Having experienced both, Brightlift is the better option.
I know that the special education schools are technically "private" but I think it would be helpful for you to spell out that they are specifically *special ed or therapeutic day* schools. We're not sending our kids to North Shore Country Day or Baker or something. D65 does not have a public therapeutic day school. (D202 does though). Also, none of the private therapeutic day schools are close to Evanston. My kid went to one in Highland Park (which has since closed). Along with the carpooling time, it was 40-50 minutes one way. And yes, some kids need an aide to keep them safe in the vehicle. Other schools are equally far or further (The O School is on the south side of Chicago, New Hope is in Arlington Heights). These schools have special ed teachers, therapeutic support onsite, group therapy, individual checkins, etc. to keep the kids safe, learning and healing.
How do you get an outplacement? Not without a fight basically. You have to get an IEP for your kid (months long process at minimum) and then advocate like crazy and get all sorts of assessments done to prove your kid's needs and sometimes resort to hiring at attorney ... and that's for those of us who have those privileges. Plus, the outplacement school has to have room to accept your kid and the appropriate resources. Trust me, you don't really have a lot of options of where to go.
With the assistance of groups like CASE, parents are learning more about their children's rights and how to get a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) as *required by law*. Believe me, all of us would love to have our kids in their neighborhood close to home. But as you illustrate above, D65 has failed in maintaining those programs that could have benefitted these kids. Families of kids with IEPs are not the problem. It doesn't matter why the number has gone up so much. We are *not the problem*. The system is.
Just updated my story to remove private and add therapeutic - thank you!! Also going to pin this comment so it shows up first. My intent here was never to lionize special ed kids or parents and in fact, I tried super hard to not do that - writing is hard. So thank you for commenting!!
I find that sometimes I just have to get something out there and let the world do with it what it will, or else I spin my wheels forever. Nice thing about the Internet is you can edit
Question RE: Special Ed. D65 seems to have discovered the most sub-optimal situation possible - an extremely expensive program, which requires parents to have to fight, drives kids far away, and historically has some really inequitable outcomes. What does a better program look like? Like the public co-op model in Skokie? What's the ideal?
I had a student who outplaced to Rice from Haven. So d65 does have a school they place to. From there we went to Challenger. They closed and the principal then worked for 202 and we were at the ETHS Day School then. Biggest mistake of my life, and I’ve made a few doozies, was to allow d65 to outplace my student. A huge reason my youngest is private and will never set foot again in a d65 school is because I don’t want anyone affiliated with that district to touch them. I don’t trust them with my children. I would never let them around my student because I have seen what they have done to sped kids firsthand. And it is not good. Don’t trust them with your black sped students- stay aware, leave the district for better public options, home school, private school. Move if you need to. This is not hyperbole. Why are so many d65 kids classified as sped? Could it be that they are so poor at educating that the kids’ test scores show they are grades behind? And certainly that can only mean the student must have issues? I guess I’m not an expert. But neither is d65. At anything. Clearly.
Well, children get special education services and outplacements as required under various laws. The District had a bad reputation for special education, and was probably sued a lot in the past because they were not abiding by the law in this respect. I can imagine that legal fees are a lot more expensive than fees at therapeutic schools - especially if the District loses and is ordered to provide the services or outplacement.
To be honest, you can’t actually get this district to pay attention to you if you don’t sue. I’ve been through this legal wrangling far too many times. I would highly suggest to anyone considering law to go into sped law. There will never not be a need for really good counsel.
I had a couple of thoughts after reading the documents. One of my first jobs in a school district was working with the special education transportation budget.
1. Bright Lift’s costs seem very reasonable for what they are doing. I do not know the state law in IL, but the state I worked in had very specific rules about transporting students to these programs that drove up the cost. For example, even if your student did not have physical disabilities or was capable of navigating a bus without an aide, the law required that you still provided vehicles with both if the purpose was to transport them to a special education program. I don’t think IL laws are that strict based on what I have read about CPS struggles lately, but if you are going to private contract it out, you get what they have and what their insurance requires. Even so, maintaining a set of special education vehicles in house may cost more.
2. It seems the reimbursement and volume of students are more the issue. On the volume, without more data, also hard to say why are more in private and if it is too much, aligned with Mara’s comment. It could be newer children to the district who can’t access the proper services and D.65 must send them elsewhere vs students whose services were changed. There are lots of articles about the repercussions of school closures and special education for the youngest children - delayed evaluations so developmental issues are harder to address as kids have aged, compensatory services, etc. The districts that were closed the longest have had the highest burdens, as have the affected students. Again, hard to know.
3. The district has also said McKinney Vento transportation costs have caused issues. Are they by a different vendor? I did not see them in the docs.
I saw the email and what stood out to me was not UNITY but the fact that they didn't use the word "equity" a single time. When last the last time D65 sent out a communication about literally anything without couching it in some equity language?
The U stands for "Unwavering commitment to financial stewardship." Cynically, could the new acronym and extraction of "equity" be part of getting the ball rolling for another operating referendum?
As far as the accelerated program goes, my feeling is that they had hoped it would disappear and conveniently take the equity issue with it.
First off, acceleration used to never be advertised (not one teacher mentioned it to us as a possibility). After we found out about it from a friend of a friend we asked my son's teacher and her response was along the lines of "you can apply if you want, but nobody ever gets in." My son was the first kid that our school administration had ever had go through the process.
Which leads to my second point -- the hurdles to access the program were immense. First if you actually found out about the program, and had a sufficiently high MAP score, then you had to pass a cognitive test administered on the weekend. Plus take a psychological test. And have a conference with your teacher, the school social worker, and the principal before you could be considered. If that's not trying to kill the program, I don't know what is. It's like they intentionally designed it to exclude as many kids as possible.
I don't know how long the enrollment process has been like this but if it's been the same for awhile then it is absolutely no surprise why few (no?) marginalized kids took part. My son made it through the barrage and in 5th grade there were a total of two kids on the bus from the middle school (my son and one kid from another elementary). If I remember right it was at the beginning of that school year (22/23) that the district actually promoted the program. By mid-year there were two more kids from my son's school that joined in. And this year there are several more kids from our elementary in the program.
Anyhow, my theory is when the district couldn't make the program disappear, they realized they should actually try to promote it to at least try to get their money's worth out of the busses. And I would assume a couple of busses a day between schools is quite a bit cheaper than hiring staff to cover a separate program at each school. Maybe not, but I'm guessing they never actually broke down the costs before making their decision! I have no idea if they've changed the admission criteria but I can only hope they have made it a much, much more accessible process.
From my conversations with folks it seems better this year than last year.
I've heard a couple stories that there was some form parents had to fill out during the process. The form had a question like, "Are there other students in the class performing at or above this student's level" -- clearly a question that ideal for helping to identify marginalized students who need this support! Yet, parents have relayed stories of the District instead just used that question to exclude their kid. It's exactly this kind of thing that sets everyone back, and only makes the equity issues worse.
We had the same experience and only found out about a possible path from the dean of math at ETHS when we reached out in frustration. By that point the only option was to do Aleks on an iPad by them self with zero support from the school district. Even then it took the school another month to actually get it all set up with access for the kids. It was extremely frustrating. Our Kid completed the program by themselves, but then decides to take geometry anyways freshman year because felt like they didn’t really learn it in Aleks so all for nothing in a way.
It’s my understanding that Park is a therapeutic day school. Perhaps the issue is room?
From the about section for Park: “Park School is a public therapeutic day program committed to serving a wide range of students with disabilities, ages 3 through 22, who are identified within the “low incidence” population.“
The population that Park serves is very different from the students who need outplacement.
It’s difficult to articulate how complicated special education is. I have a child who was very close to needing outplacement services a couple of years ago. Thankfully, we have found another solution that is working. Does she require a lot of services? Yes. Is it much less expensive than outplacement? Yes.
Parents of kids who need services know they’re expensive. We all wish that our kids didn’t require them. We educate ourselves and work our tails off to advocate for our kids try to get them what they need. (Sometimes that’s additional services, sometimes it’s small accommodations). And even then, success for our kids look very different from success for typical kids.
I am so angry that we are in this situation, but the answer cannot be to cut special education services so that our kids have an even worse educational experience than they are already having.
Yes, in NO WAY am I advocating to cut special ed services!!! I do think we all need to have an honest conversation about it, though, so that the whole town can figure out a better solution because this solution seems to be untenable and not even that good.
I know. These numbers are especially frustrating because no one wants outplacement for their kid. And, it’s exasperating that the transportation costs so much.
The best way to avoid these expenses is to spend more earlier or services for kids. I’m frustrated because that’s not going to be what happens. And, I’m a little terrified because all three of my kids are getting close to what they need right now, and I don’t want them to lose what’s actually working.
I don't know if this helps but I don't get the sense that D65 is going to cut sp-ed stuff. The current budgets all have basically the same funding as last year and this current administration seems dramatically less hostile to special ed parents than the last. But that's just my interpretation, not as a sp-ed parent but as someone watching closely.
Park isn't an appropriate placement for every child. Students found eligible for support and services at Park School typically have an identified disability in one or more of the following categories: moderate to significant Intellectual Disability, Autism, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Visual Impairment, and/or Multiple Disabilities. Not every student getting special ed services falls into those categories.
Agree with all of the above. I wanted to correct your previous statement that “D65 does not have a public therapeutic day school” when in fact it does. It’s no doubt a nuanced problem but I think keeping facts straight is paramount.
Yes, I stand corrected. I didn't think of it because my child doesn't fit the profile of students who are accepted there, nor do many others who are outplaced. But you are correct.
Question (maybe a dumb one): Would expanding Park to cover more students be a good/feasible idea? Is there a way it could further be combined with the existing D202 Day School?
Because the populations are so different, I’m not sure that’s the best solution.
I have no idea whether the Day School model would work or not. I know some parents were very concerned when it was established. They were worried that their students would lose their placements at therapeutic schools that were working. I haven’t heard many complaints recently. So, I’m not sure how it’s working.
I will say that in my experience students who receive outplacement are tricky. I know that Skokie has their own therapeutic school. One parent that I talked to was very happy with the services and support her son was receiving. So, it could be possible. However, it wouldn’t work to place Park students, students in the R.IS.E. Program, students in the S.T.E.P. Program, students who receive outplacement, and students who used to be placed in cross cat. Rooms in the same facility. The needs of those populations are so different that I think that it would be difficult to effectively meet them all.
Please forgive me if I’ve missed it or can find the info elsewhere, but do you know why there is such a large increase in students receiving special education? Are there more special education resources available so that more students with disabilities can be served? Or are there more students being identified with having disabilities? Has the criteria for making these determinations changed over the past few years?
Having been a school social worker for 15 years in one school district then a substitute in 5 districts I have probably sat in on over hundreds of IEP meetings. The process starts before an IEP is implemented The teacher, the parent, the social worker and any necessary personal sit to identify what are the issues that need to be addressed. The Team is led by the Special Education coordinator. One of the goals is for all to be working together to help the student succeed. It may take a lot of work a lot of work to create this team approach. But if you don’t create a working team you will not be successful. The special Education coordinator is probably the most difficult job in a school district If the student does receive an IEP for an inability to regulate their emotions and thus his/her behaviors meetings need to be frequent so the goals can be aligned. This is hard work on the part of every team member. In my experience most students who meet the criteria for an IEP for behavior can be identified early. I cannot explain why there is an increasing need for outside placements other than to say it is hard work for the adults involved. They have to be on the same page. Meetings need to be on a regular basis. That’s why I said being the Special Education Coordinator is the hardest job. But D65 has an excellent co-op in NSSED. I’m wondering if it has become easier to just put the student on a bus or in a cab and never revisit the goals. I would venture that students with an IEP with behavioral goals can learn to manage their emotions/ behavior with consistent support. To just send them away for years is really unacceptable. The policies of D65 should be examined in this light
I just want to clarify a few things as someone whose child has used these services. I am not surprised that Brightlift is expensive. They also had major staffing issues and didn't have enough drivers for a while. My guess is pay is low as well, so the drivers are not always that great and the vehicles are not exactly top of the line (my kid was in a car with several others when the driver announced she couldn't stop and kept going until she got to the next exit on the Edens and I heard from my kid well before I heard from the company). The "taxis" in some cases are minivans that pick up multiple kids from Evanston who are going to the same outplacement school. Sometimes the car doesn't show up. Sometimes it's super early. Sometimes it's late. There is another company called Citicare that ETHS uses. Having experienced both, Brightlift is the better option.
I know that the special education schools are technically "private" but I think it would be helpful for you to spell out that they are specifically *special ed or therapeutic day* schools. We're not sending our kids to North Shore Country Day or Baker or something. D65 does not have a public therapeutic day school. (D202 does though). Also, none of the private therapeutic day schools are close to Evanston. My kid went to one in Highland Park (which has since closed). Along with the carpooling time, it was 40-50 minutes one way. And yes, some kids need an aide to keep them safe in the vehicle. Other schools are equally far or further (The O School is on the south side of Chicago, New Hope is in Arlington Heights). These schools have special ed teachers, therapeutic support onsite, group therapy, individual checkins, etc. to keep the kids safe, learning and healing.
How do you get an outplacement? Not without a fight basically. You have to get an IEP for your kid (months long process at minimum) and then advocate like crazy and get all sorts of assessments done to prove your kid's needs and sometimes resort to hiring at attorney ... and that's for those of us who have those privileges. Plus, the outplacement school has to have room to accept your kid and the appropriate resources. Trust me, you don't really have a lot of options of where to go.
With the assistance of groups like CASE, parents are learning more about their children's rights and how to get a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) as *required by law*. Believe me, all of us would love to have our kids in their neighborhood close to home. But as you illustrate above, D65 has failed in maintaining those programs that could have benefitted these kids. Families of kids with IEPs are not the problem. It doesn't matter why the number has gone up so much. We are *not the problem*. The system is.
Just updated my story to remove private and add therapeutic - thank you!! Also going to pin this comment so it shows up first. My intent here was never to lionize special ed kids or parents and in fact, I tried super hard to not do that - writing is hard. So thank you for commenting!!
As a writer, I agree that this is a hard craft. LOL :)
I find that sometimes I just have to get something out there and let the world do with it what it will, or else I spin my wheels forever. Nice thing about the Internet is you can edit
100%
Question RE: Special Ed. D65 seems to have discovered the most sub-optimal situation possible - an extremely expensive program, which requires parents to have to fight, drives kids far away, and historically has some really inequitable outcomes. What does a better program look like? Like the public co-op model in Skokie? What's the ideal?
I had a student who outplaced to Rice from Haven. So d65 does have a school they place to. From there we went to Challenger. They closed and the principal then worked for 202 and we were at the ETHS Day School then. Biggest mistake of my life, and I’ve made a few doozies, was to allow d65 to outplace my student. A huge reason my youngest is private and will never set foot again in a d65 school is because I don’t want anyone affiliated with that district to touch them. I don’t trust them with my children. I would never let them around my student because I have seen what they have done to sped kids firsthand. And it is not good. Don’t trust them with your black sped students- stay aware, leave the district for better public options, home school, private school. Move if you need to. This is not hyperbole. Why are so many d65 kids classified as sped? Could it be that they are so poor at educating that the kids’ test scores show they are grades behind? And certainly that can only mean the student must have issues? I guess I’m not an expert. But neither is d65. At anything. Clearly.
Well, children get special education services and outplacements as required under various laws. The District had a bad reputation for special education, and was probably sued a lot in the past because they were not abiding by the law in this respect. I can imagine that legal fees are a lot more expensive than fees at therapeutic schools - especially if the District loses and is ordered to provide the services or outplacement.
To be honest, you can’t actually get this district to pay attention to you if you don’t sue. I’ve been through this legal wrangling far too many times. I would highly suggest to anyone considering law to go into sped law. There will never not be a need for really good counsel.
You don’t get any state reimbursement on the legal fees!
I had a couple of thoughts after reading the documents. One of my first jobs in a school district was working with the special education transportation budget.
1. Bright Lift’s costs seem very reasonable for what they are doing. I do not know the state law in IL, but the state I worked in had very specific rules about transporting students to these programs that drove up the cost. For example, even if your student did not have physical disabilities or was capable of navigating a bus without an aide, the law required that you still provided vehicles with both if the purpose was to transport them to a special education program. I don’t think IL laws are that strict based on what I have read about CPS struggles lately, but if you are going to private contract it out, you get what they have and what their insurance requires. Even so, maintaining a set of special education vehicles in house may cost more.
2. It seems the reimbursement and volume of students are more the issue. On the volume, without more data, also hard to say why are more in private and if it is too much, aligned with Mara’s comment. It could be newer children to the district who can’t access the proper services and D.65 must send them elsewhere vs students whose services were changed. There are lots of articles about the repercussions of school closures and special education for the youngest children - delayed evaluations so developmental issues are harder to address as kids have aged, compensatory services, etc. The districts that were closed the longest have had the highest burdens, as have the affected students. Again, hard to know.
3. The district has also said McKinney Vento transportation costs have caused issues. Are they by a different vendor? I did not see them in the docs.
Nice post, Tom. I don't know if you got Turner's email today, but she has jettisoned the M.I.R.A.C.L.E.S. framework for one called U.N.I.T.Y.
What's with the ridiculous acronymization in school admins? Do you need to take an Advanced Acronyms course to become a Doctor?
How much time and money are they expending to put out these pablum propaganda videos?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6Wz3t67GIg
I saw the email and what stood out to me was not UNITY but the fact that they didn't use the word "equity" a single time. When last the last time D65 sent out a communication about literally anything without couching it in some equity language?
The U stands for "Unwavering commitment to financial stewardship." Cynically, could the new acronym and extraction of "equity" be part of getting the ball rolling for another operating referendum?
Moving towards using plain language and financial accountability is ok by me!!
I believe it was Huxley who warned about the use of euphemisms to distort real language
Orwell in 1984
As far as the accelerated program goes, my feeling is that they had hoped it would disappear and conveniently take the equity issue with it.
First off, acceleration used to never be advertised (not one teacher mentioned it to us as a possibility). After we found out about it from a friend of a friend we asked my son's teacher and her response was along the lines of "you can apply if you want, but nobody ever gets in." My son was the first kid that our school administration had ever had go through the process.
Which leads to my second point -- the hurdles to access the program were immense. First if you actually found out about the program, and had a sufficiently high MAP score, then you had to pass a cognitive test administered on the weekend. Plus take a psychological test. And have a conference with your teacher, the school social worker, and the principal before you could be considered. If that's not trying to kill the program, I don't know what is. It's like they intentionally designed it to exclude as many kids as possible.
I don't know how long the enrollment process has been like this but if it's been the same for awhile then it is absolutely no surprise why few (no?) marginalized kids took part. My son made it through the barrage and in 5th grade there were a total of two kids on the bus from the middle school (my son and one kid from another elementary). If I remember right it was at the beginning of that school year (22/23) that the district actually promoted the program. By mid-year there were two more kids from my son's school that joined in. And this year there are several more kids from our elementary in the program.
Anyhow, my theory is when the district couldn't make the program disappear, they realized they should actually try to promote it to at least try to get their money's worth out of the busses. And I would assume a couple of busses a day between schools is quite a bit cheaper than hiring staff to cover a separate program at each school. Maybe not, but I'm guessing they never actually broke down the costs before making their decision! I have no idea if they've changed the admission criteria but I can only hope they have made it a much, much more accessible process.
From my conversations with folks it seems better this year than last year.
I've heard a couple stories that there was some form parents had to fill out during the process. The form had a question like, "Are there other students in the class performing at or above this student's level" -- clearly a question that ideal for helping to identify marginalized students who need this support! Yet, parents have relayed stories of the District instead just used that question to exclude their kid. It's exactly this kind of thing that sets everyone back, and only makes the equity issues worse.
We had the same experience and only found out about a possible path from the dean of math at ETHS when we reached out in frustration. By that point the only option was to do Aleks on an iPad by them self with zero support from the school district. Even then it took the school another month to actually get it all set up with access for the kids. It was extremely frustrating. Our Kid completed the program by themselves, but then decides to take geometry anyways freshman year because felt like they didn’t really learn it in Aleks so all for nothing in a way.
The Britelift contract is interesting. D65 was paying 75 cent more per mile than what cabbies charge in Chicago.
It's not the same kind of service.
It’s my understanding that Park is a therapeutic day school. Perhaps the issue is room?
From the about section for Park: “Park School is a public therapeutic day program committed to serving a wide range of students with disabilities, ages 3 through 22, who are identified within the “low incidence” population.“
The population that Park serves is very different from the students who need outplacement.
It’s difficult to articulate how complicated special education is. I have a child who was very close to needing outplacement services a couple of years ago. Thankfully, we have found another solution that is working. Does she require a lot of services? Yes. Is it much less expensive than outplacement? Yes.
Parents of kids who need services know they’re expensive. We all wish that our kids didn’t require them. We educate ourselves and work our tails off to advocate for our kids try to get them what they need. (Sometimes that’s additional services, sometimes it’s small accommodations). And even then, success for our kids look very different from success for typical kids.
I am so angry that we are in this situation, but the answer cannot be to cut special education services so that our kids have an even worse educational experience than they are already having.
Yes, in NO WAY am I advocating to cut special ed services!!! I do think we all need to have an honest conversation about it, though, so that the whole town can figure out a better solution because this solution seems to be untenable and not even that good.
I know. These numbers are especially frustrating because no one wants outplacement for their kid. And, it’s exasperating that the transportation costs so much.
The best way to avoid these expenses is to spend more earlier or services for kids. I’m frustrated because that’s not going to be what happens. And, I’m a little terrified because all three of my kids are getting close to what they need right now, and I don’t want them to lose what’s actually working.
I don't know if this helps but I don't get the sense that D65 is going to cut sp-ed stuff. The current budgets all have basically the same funding as last year and this current administration seems dramatically less hostile to special ed parents than the last. But that's just my interpretation, not as a sp-ed parent but as someone watching closely.
Park isn't an appropriate placement for every child. Students found eligible for support and services at Park School typically have an identified disability in one or more of the following categories: moderate to significant Intellectual Disability, Autism, Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Visual Impairment, and/or Multiple Disabilities. Not every student getting special ed services falls into those categories.
Agree with all of the above. I wanted to correct your previous statement that “D65 does not have a public therapeutic day school” when in fact it does. It’s no doubt a nuanced problem but I think keeping facts straight is paramount.
Yes, I stand corrected. I didn't think of it because my child doesn't fit the profile of students who are accepted there, nor do many others who are outplaced. But you are correct.
Question (maybe a dumb one): Would expanding Park to cover more students be a good/feasible idea? Is there a way it could further be combined with the existing D202 Day School?
The D202 Day School also does not serve the population that Park does. Park also goes to age 22 so they have high schoolers there already.
Because the populations are so different, I’m not sure that’s the best solution.
I have no idea whether the Day School model would work or not. I know some parents were very concerned when it was established. They were worried that their students would lose their placements at therapeutic schools that were working. I haven’t heard many complaints recently. So, I’m not sure how it’s working.
I will say that in my experience students who receive outplacement are tricky. I know that Skokie has their own therapeutic school. One parent that I talked to was very happy with the services and support her son was receiving. So, it could be possible. However, it wouldn’t work to place Park students, students in the R.IS.E. Program, students in the S.T.E.P. Program, students who receive outplacement, and students who used to be placed in cross cat. Rooms in the same facility. The needs of those populations are so different that I think that it would be difficult to effectively meet them all.
Dang, it's a tough nut. Needs good leadership and organization probably more than any one size fits all thing, huh?
Please forgive me if I’ve missed it or can find the info elsewhere, but do you know why there is such a large increase in students receiving special education? Are there more special education resources available so that more students with disabilities can be served? Or are there more students being identified with having disabilities? Has the criteria for making these determinations changed over the past few years?
I don't know the answer - I think it's all of the above but I don't know to what degree each is true.
Having been a school social worker for 15 years in one school district then a substitute in 5 districts I have probably sat in on over hundreds of IEP meetings. The process starts before an IEP is implemented The teacher, the parent, the social worker and any necessary personal sit to identify what are the issues that need to be addressed. The Team is led by the Special Education coordinator. One of the goals is for all to be working together to help the student succeed. It may take a lot of work a lot of work to create this team approach. But if you don’t create a working team you will not be successful. The special Education coordinator is probably the most difficult job in a school district If the student does receive an IEP for an inability to regulate their emotions and thus his/her behaviors meetings need to be frequent so the goals can be aligned. This is hard work on the part of every team member. In my experience most students who meet the criteria for an IEP for behavior can be identified early. I cannot explain why there is an increasing need for outside placements other than to say it is hard work for the adults involved. They have to be on the same page. Meetings need to be on a regular basis. That’s why I said being the Special Education Coordinator is the hardest job. But D65 has an excellent co-op in NSSED. I’m wondering if it has become easier to just put the student on a bus or in a cab and never revisit the goals. I would venture that students with an IEP with behavioral goals can learn to manage their emotions/ behavior with consistent support. To just send them away for years is really unacceptable. The policies of D65 should be examined in this light
I was under the impression that D65 is not part of NSSED.
I do not believe we are part of any coop