Parents and students urge Dunlap board to keep full-time counselor assignments and expand supports for special-education students

Parents and students told the Dunlap Community Unit School District 323 Board of Education on March 26 they are concerned about a planned reassignment that would split a school counselor's time between schools and urged the district to hire additional full-time counselors and improve access to behavioral-health supports.

During the public-participation portion of the meeting, a parent who identified concerns about reassigning "Miss Jaden" said splitting the counselor between Dunlap Grade (referred to as Dunlap Gray in public comment) and Hickory Grove would harm consistency and trust. The parent said one child helped by Miss Jaden has anxiety and had learned coping strategies with the counselor's support. The speaker warned that splitting the position risks shifting responsibilities to teachers and staff and urged the district to hire more counselors rather than reducing a student's full-time access.

Another public commenter, who identified themselves as Josie and said they are a fourth grader at Dunlap Grade School, thanked the special-education department and the special-education director for placing her daughter at East Hillsdale's autism academy. That speaker outlined three concerns: a shortage of homebound teachers for students who must be served at home, the difficulty of applying to residential schools because each program has a different application, and a shortage of community mental and behavioral health resources in central Illinois. The commenter said they had contacted Dr. Nadia Douglas at the Illinois State Board of Education and asked the district for contacts for state legislators to seek help.

Speakers cited a board public-participation rule when taking the podium; the board's announcement referenced "board policy 24230," which limits comments to five minutes and asks speakers to avoid naming individual students or staff when presenting complaints. The parent who spoke also said "Dunlap passed a $3,500,000" item but did not specify whether that sum referred to a bond, referendum or other funding source.

No formal board action on counselor assignments was taken during public comment. The board's packet and information items included schoolwide Title I plans and federal grant materials; the meeting record shows the board encouraged follow-up via administration for matters requiring investigation or staff response.

The district did not announce a staffing decision at the meeting; the public commenters requested the board or administration consider hiring more full-time counselors and standardizing residential-placement application processes to reduce parent burden.