District 86 Considers Pulling Out of Special Ed Co-op

Hinsdale Township High School District 86 has taken the first step in a process that could lead to the district ending its membership in the LaGrange Area Department of Special Education (LADSE).

LADSE is a cooperative which provides special education programs for its 16-member school districts. Three high school districts are in the cooperative—District 86, Lyons Township District 204 and Riverside Brookfield Township District 208.

In a memo to the District 86 Board of Education this week, Superintendent Dr. Nicholas Wahl reported that he informed the LADSE Directing Board that the district was “in a study year to review its continued membership in LADSE. … The study year is the first in a two-year notification process… If a decision is made to leave LADSE, the second year is used to develop a plan that indicates how we will provide special education services to our students.”

The Illinois State Board of Education must approve the plan.

At Monday’s school board meeting at Hinsdale Central High School, Wahl said the district’s review of its membership in LADSE was prompted by Community Consolidated School District 181's decision to pull out of LADSE.

“Our largest feeder is District 181,” Wahl noted. “I indicated to the Directing Board if this would come to fruition—that District 181 would become independent—we, as a district, would need to study our continued membership in the co-op.”

Wahl said District 86 had remained a LADSE member primarily to support the preschool programs for the elementary school districts that feed into the high school district.

Federal Funds at Issue

LADSE receives funding through state grant programs which, in turn, receive funding from the federal government under provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). Wahl said District 86’s share of that funding is approximately $690,000 annually.

“I have expressed to the [LADSE] board now seven years running, that the structure of IDEA money flowing to the co-op needs to change,” Wahl said. “In other words, our IDEA money should come to District 86, not to the co-op.”

Wahl said LADSE needs to move to a fee-for-service model.

“In other words, if you use a service, you pay the fee,” he said. “We get the money, then we decide how we’re going to use that money on services offered by the cooperative.”

Wahl said some cooperatives in the Chicago area have adopted a fee-for-service operating system.

Going It Alone

The superintendent also hinted that LADSE has failed to meet the needs of its member high school districts.

“We had expressed, five years ago, that we really wanted a transition program that the cooperative supported for our 18- to 21-year-olds,” Wahl said. “This is a five-year-old request. As all of us know at this table, that didn’t evolve at the co-op. We became independent and started our own transitions center, as did LT.

“We also had expressed an interest in having the co-op be more involved with extended school year (ESY),” Wahl continued. “That didn’t come to fruition and we continue to have our own independent ESY, as does LT and RB.

“We’ve also expressed that we’d like the co-op to be more active in establishing a therapeutic day placement program. … That request has gone unmet and we continue to utilize independent therapeutic day placements for our students that have that need. “

Wahl said District 86 was looking at establishing its own therapeutic day placement program.

“We are becoming more independent in delivering our services, frankly, because it’s what’s good for our kids," Wahl said. "Those are the needs of our high school special education students.”

In response to questioning from Board Member Dianne Barrett, Wahl said that if District 86 decided to provide special education programming on its own, it would need to have a certified executive director for special education.

“Is [Director of Student Services] Joyce Powell capable of that position or is that somebody we’d have to hire?” Barrett asked.

“She is close on coursework and then would take the exam from the state, if that’s something she’d be interested in,” Wahl said.

What LADSE Provides

Board Member Dr. Richard Skoda asked Wahl what LADSE services  District 86 uses.

“We have two psychologists at each campus,” Wahl responded. “We do utilize some of their social work services, occupational therapy, physical therapy, speech and language therapy, some transition specialists.”

The LADSE discussion was on the agenda as an informational item under the superintendent’s report and the board took no action on the matter.