At last night’s Rosemont School District 78, the Board had placed on their agenda (see link  http://www.rosemont78.org/vimages/shared/vnews/stories/5988a8c8ca5a6/12-11-17publicboardagenda.pdf    )   an action item  that the Rosemont School Board  voted on whether to approve the Resolution of School District 80’s request to withdraw from the Leyden Area Special Education Cooperative.

The Rosemont SD 78 Board of Education voted no on the Resolution to approve the request of SD 80 to withdraw from LASEC.  Ridgewood and Union Ridge have already approved the withdrawl resolution.    Pennoyer has the Resolution on its agenda for action on Wednesday night.

The current 11 members of LASEC  have to approve the withdrawl of a member.    In the case of Schiller Park School District 81 in 2007, the members unanimously approved the withdrawl of SD 81;   but now the first school district to vote has provided a major stumbling block for Norridge SD 80’s withdrawl from LASEC.    A major question is what position will the other members take regarding the withdrawl of SD80 ?    Will SD83 oppose the withdrawl because of their major financial intertwinement with LASEC ? Will Elmwood Park Unit District 401 support the withdrawl while they have their own negotiations underway with LASEC ?

There are a lot of unanswered questions as this quagmire develops.

Some feel that this is a clear denial of a school district’s self determination in how to best provide educational services to its special education population.

What course of action can and will Norridge SD80 take since their is a developing opposition amongst their peer Districts to their own self determination as to what is best for the education of their residents’ children  ?

This also sets the stage for numerous attorneys to begin to harvest some handsome fees as the Boards’  positions become entrenched and each side choses a path.

In the meantime the Tribune has run an article detailing the events surrounding the intention of SD80 to withdraw.   According to the Tribune on December 11, 2017

“Norridge School District 80 officials have begun the process of withdrawing from a regional special education cooperative, saying students who have significant disabilities would be better served by a program operated by the district.
The District 80 board unanimously voted Nov. 21 to leave the Leyden Area Special Education Cooperative, a move that would be effective July 1, 2018, if approved by Cook County and state education officials.
The resolution adopted by the board said students would be better served by a program independently operated directly by District 80 officials because general education students outperform special education students “at a substantial rate that is both larger than comparison school districts and than what the district’s board of education is willing to accept.”

Read the entire article at     http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/norridge/news/ct-nhh-norridge-special-education-tl-1214-20171211-story.html

This blog began to carry this story as it was unfolding before Chicago newsmedia picked up on this developing drama over special education in the Western Suburbs.     It is great to see that the Pioneer Press division of the Chicago Tribune has decided to give some coverage to this crucial matter.

Please check back regularly on this blog for updates on the story of SD80 and its attempted withdrawl from LASEC