Report suggests switching special ed
BY SAM SMITH
SVN REPORTER
ssmith@svnmail.com
AMBOY - A report on special education in Amboy schools recommends the district "act now" to transition out of the Lee County Special Education Association and accept a formal invitation from the Ogle County Education Cooperative.
In a 22-page summary of expenses versus services offered by both special education providers, the report says Amboy students would gain access to superior services at two-thirds the cost.
Special-ed cooperatives are groups of school districts that distribute the cost of providing federally and state-mandated services to special-needs students across a wider geographic region. Of the six districts that feed into the Lee County Special Education Association, three, including Amboy, have filed a notice of their intent to leave.
Ashton-Franklin Center School District officials are considering a switch to Ogle because of a perceived savings. Steward, the third district considering Ogle, has cited its proximity to Rochelle, where some of Ogle's services are provided.
The other three districts, including Dixon schools, have said not so fast. Under pressure to rein in expenditures that have been rising for three years, and facing the threat of losing its largest financial contributor, Dixon Schools, the Lee County association hired Jennifer Oetting as its new director last year.
"Jennifer Oetting has done just a wonderful job," said Robert Priest, superintendent of Paw Paw Schools, which plans to remain with the Lee County. "With the new co-op director and the way the co-op is going, there's no reason to move elsewhere."
Lee County is the smaller of the two cooperatives - it has half as many contributing school districts and serves about half the number of students.
The report was authored by Thomas J. Lynch, a 17-year director and 31-year employee of the Ogle County Education Association, who now lives in Las Vegas and could not be reached for comment.
Amboy Superintendent Quintin Shepherd said he saw nothing in the report that indicates any bias on Lynch's part and called the report "a big piece of the puzzle."
The district has not made any determination about the move but will have to do so within "the next couple of months," Shepherd said. "If we stall out and decide to put it off for another year, this whole report becomes moot," he said.
Reach Sam Smith at (815) 284-2222 or (800) 798-4085, ext. 525.
