The timeline for a proposed charter school to serve children living with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and others with special needs has been delayed a year, according to a Lakeland Union High School official.
Supporters are lobbying the high school district and its four feeder elementary school districts to create the charter school. But instead of having the charter school in place by 2017, it now appears the earliest would be the 2017-2018 school year. LUHS Administrator/Principal Jim Bouché told his board Tuesday that too much yet needs to be considered before moving forward with hiring staff by January, as well as issues of financing, location, sponsorship and curriculum.
“If we are going to go with a charter (school), if we are going to go with this moving forward, we need to take the time to make sure we get the right people in these positions,” Bouché said. “Finding teachers in the state of Wisconsin is becoming difficult enough. Now, it’s trying to find special ed teachers that are going to be working with autistic children.”
Administrators and others from the Lakeland Area Consortium schools are working on the proposal, kick-started by a meeting of the schools boards from the four elementary school district and high school district a few weeks ago. The elementary schools are Arbor Vitae, Lac du Flambeau, Minocqua-Hazelhurst-Lake Tomahawk, and North Lakeland. The consensus of the group now is “to move it forward with a lot of thought versus moving too quickly and not doing it well,” Bouché said.
The LUHS board took no action on the proposal, but will continue the discussion, said Board President Tom Gabert. He had put the issue on that agenda as an action item, expecting that the administrators wanted to move soon on hiring staff and shared services. But the administrators had second thoughts after the recent meeting on the charter school, Bouché said. Board member Jon Berg was supportive of the proposal. “The stats are staggering,” he said of the increased numbers of youth diagnosed with ASD. But, he added of the charter school, “This is no minor undertaking.” Citing a report given the board, Berg said there could be 10-20 families interested with about three dozen ASD children of varying ages.
The parents should be surveyed as to their wishes, he added, saying their interest would drive this undertaking. Board member Barry Seidel said that before a survey is sent out, the charter school has to show what it is offering in curriculum and services. A pilot model could be housed within one of the current school buildings, he added. “If we bite off too big of a chunk it’s going to turn out something that’s going to falter.” “What is our financial obligation?” asked board member Shari Nimsgern, who followed up with other questions: Is the special education program at LUHS providing all needed services to students with ASD? If so, then elementary schools should develop the charter school, she said. She picked up Berg’s point: How many ASD-identified students – and their parents – would actually want those services provided in a separate building outside of LUHS? Those issues and others all have to be worked out, admitted Bouche, who added: Would the charter school find its teachers within the Lakeland Area Consortium’s schools or need to hire outside of the area? He said administrators and special education staff will meet a couple of times soon to consider funding sources. Those range from local fundraising efforts to state and federal money and grants.
A companion effort will be to locate a building that could be used for the charter school. The administrators will also review similar charter schools to see what works and what doesn’t. One bit of advice from the Lionsgate Academy charter school in Minnesota was to “go slow and start small,” he said.
