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Round Lake district details special-education overhaul, publishes service pathway and staffing changes
Summary
District leaders told the Board of Education they completed an audit-driven review of special education this year, will publish a new service-pathway guidebook, add teacher-assistant staffing for high-need classrooms, standardize IEP meeting participation and roll out MTSS–IEP crosswalks and training next year.
Dr. Avgarin, a district staff member, told the Round Lake Area Board of Education on June 16 that the district completed an audit-driven review and pursued changes intended to increase clarity and consistency in special education services.
The district’s special-education team said the work was guided by recommendations from Catalyst for Educational Change and aimed “to advance independence and promote learning in the least restrictive environment.” The administration said it will publish a service-pathway guidebook, finalize placement guidelines and provide training to better align MTSS (multi-tiered system of supports) and IEP (individualized education program) processes.
District staff emphasized why the work matters: building-level teachers and special-education staff told administrators they sometimes perceived placement decisions as “top down,” that co-teaching practices were inconsistently implemented and that IEP meetings did not always include the student’s multilingual teacher. Laura Strange, special-education coordinator, said the team met with staff in every building to collect feedback and then used that feedback to redesign tools and training.
Administrators described specific steps the district has already taken this year and plans to continue next year. They said they added an additional teacher assistant to some educational-life-skills and learning-appropriate-behavior classrooms “for the safety of our staff and the safety of our students,” piloted an alternate math scope-and-sequence for foundational skills, and conducted co-teaching walkthroughs and instructional rounds with building leaders. The district also said it will launch an MTSS–IEP crosswalk and standardize IEP meeting invitation lists so the actual multilingual teacher attends when the student is dually identified.
On process and oversight, staff said they will create building advisory teams, continue administrator professional development focused on special-education leadership and finalize a placement matrix with entry and exit criteria that will be published in the guidebook. The team said case managers and administrators will receive new preparation tools so IEP teams are “meeting ready” and that transition planning and centralized resources will follow.
Board members asked how MTSS and RTI relate to IEPs; staff explained MTSS is the district’s tiered process and RTI describes the interventions within it. They said students can move in and out of MTSS tiers and, less frequently, in and out of special education depending on needs and response to interventions.
The presentation closed with a list of next steps: publish the service-pathway framework, finalize the placement matrix and entry/exit tools, stage year‑long professional development on progress monitoring and inclusive practices, and stand up advisory teams to maintain staff feedback.
District staff said these steps are intended to increase consistency in placement decisions, make co-teaching more effective across schools and ensure that students and families receive clearer communications about service transitions.
