Thoughts on District 112’s Withdrawal from NSSED

Disillusioned.

I feel disillusioned about the vote.

I feel disillusioned because it was so predictable.

I feel disillusioned about the future of some of District 112’s kids.

Last night (November 19), the North Shore School District 112 Board of Education voted to withdraw from Northern Suburban Special Education District (NSSED), the cooperative that provides special education programs, services and coaching, and consultation to its 18-member North Shore school districts.

The vote was unanimous, 7-0, and it was very apparent before it was taken that all of the Board members’ minds had already been made.  During the public comment portion of the meeting, I spoke out about how North Shore Academy (NSA), the public therapeutic day school that my son attends, has been instrumental in changing my son’s future.

Kai has made great academic progress when he made none at all before he started going to school there.  He is learning how to control his emotions and actions when we thought that might not be possible. 

We now have hope that his future may not be as bleak as it once appeared.

I expressed my concern about how the possibility of attending this wonderful school would be jeopardized by District 112’s withdrawal from NSSED. 

Later in the meeting, just prior to the vote, Matt Barbini, Assistant Superintendent of Student Services for District 112, had his say.

He said that District 112 could not replicate some services that are provided by NSSED, namely North Shore Academy.  And therefore, he repeated his intent for District students to continue attending NSA.  He expressed his belief that there is "little chance" that NSSED would refuse kids from District 112, citing finances as the primary reason why he believes that to be the case.

What Mr. Barbini fails to adequately take into account is that student admittance into NSA is dependent upon both NSSED agreeing to accept students from non-member districts, and the school having the capacity to serve these non-member district students.  Both of these things are negatively impacted by 112's decision to withdraw from NSSED. 

Can Mr. Barbini really be sure that NSSED would not refuse 112’s students in order to discourage other districts from withdrawing?  To that, Mr. Barbini said that it is up to us parents to encourage NSSED to continue to accept our kids.  To me, that seems akin to someone throwing your children into the deep end of a swimming pool and then saying that it is your responsibility to negotiate with a lifeguard to make sure they are saved.

Besides this, however, is the very real possibility that 112’s kids would be turned away from NSA just because of capacity issues. Anyone who is familiar with NSA understands how enrollment can fluctuate throughout the year as some students return to their home districts while others are newly enrolled there.  Capacity can and does fill up at times, and when it does, non-member district students can be and have been turned away.  

When one Board member, Karla Liveney, questioned Mr. Barbini about this, he declared that not one 112 student has ever been turned away from NSA.  Of course, what happened in the past when 112 was a member of NSSED is irrelevant.  Mr. Barbini went on to say that he did not know what the situation would be after 112 is no longer a member.  The fact that the Board, and Mr. Barbini, does not know this critical information is very troubling as it indicates that their decision to withdraw was based on incomplete knowledge.

Just prior to the vote, Board President Bruce Hyman stated that he had been having conversations with Mr. Barbini about withdrawing from NSSED for two years.  Apparently, he thought that stating this would be comforting to us parents to know that the decision was not made in haste. I would like to know why they could not see fit to seek parents’ input during all that time.

There was no public notice prior to the recommendation being made.  And even after the recommendation was made, the publicity was paltry.  Mr. Barbini stated that they emailed 700 parents. I wonder when that list was updated.  I know that I was not the only one to not receive that email.  A notice from the District right here in Patch would certainly have drawn attention, but my impression is that is the last thing they wanted.

At the very least, with only 12 families from the District with kids at NSA, you would think that the District could have easily found a way to make sure all of us were contacted and consulted.

And so we are left with a decision made with incomplete information due, at least in part, to the insular way in which it was made. 

Disillusioned.

Yes, disillusioned.