La Grange SD 102 staff outlines hiring plan and small in-district 'Pathways' program to reduce outplacement costs

A district staff member presented the school district's staffing projections and a proposal to open a small in-district program called "Pathways" to serve students with emotional disabilities, saying the plan would both expand local services and reduce outplacement costs.

The staffing overview outlined an accelerated hiring timeline: positions were posted in February with an initial hiring target of March 21 for a first group of hires. The presentation said approximately 22 certified positions, seven classified positions and one administrative position were posted or being recruited as of the report. The district also reported about six current open ESP (education support professional) positions that staff are continuing to fill.

Why it matters: District staff said keeping students in-district could reduce net tuition costs and give students access to inclusion opportunities at their home schools. The district estimated outplacement tuition for programs like LADSI runs about $35,000 per year per student and said some therapeutic day placements can cost $50,000–$100,000 annually. The presenter said a small Pathways cohort of six students could reduce tuition costs by about $290,000 (district estimate) and, combined with retiree-replacement salary savings, produce roughly $547,566 in gross savings before reinvestment into new positions.

Details of the Pathways proposal: Staff described Pathways as a small, therapeutic-influenced classroom to be located in a room currently leased to LADSI at Casa. The plan proposed starting with six students (year‑1 distribution suggested: one second-grader, two third-graders, two fourth-graders, one fifth-grader), with a legal limit that students in the classroom not be more than six years apart in age. To staff the room, the district proposed a special education teacher, a social worker (who would also support the district’s Connections program), three paraeducator-type professionals in the room, and additional administrative support including an assistant principal at Casa (the district noted Casa is the only elementary without an assistant principal).

Staff noted they would start small and evaluate results annually. According to the presentation, the program could scale to about eight students before staffing/cost parity would change; staff said they did not intend to expand beyond a single small section unless multiple sections were warranted.

Other staffing and program notes: The presentation said the district is expanding dual-language programming (into grade 8 at Park Junior High, shoring up grade 7) and adding math intervention and social work capacity. Forest Road reported a recent surge of newcomers (estimated 15–16 students) and district staff proposed creating a newcomer program with a bilingual EL teacher to provide targeted language instruction while students remain integrated in homerooms.

Recruitment strategies listed included attending job fairs, posting earlier in the season to improve candidate pools, and a new international recruitment pathway through the Illinois State Board of Education for targeted bilingual positions.

Budget context and tradeoffs: The presenter said replacing retirees with new hires at an MA-6 averaging salary would yield about $257,000 in recurring savings in the salary line; adding the projected tuition reductions from Pathways produced the larger $547,566 figure mentioned above. Staff said much of the savings would be reinvested into the new positions described above and that the net projected salary savings