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District 15 expands special‑education classrooms, reports higher Medicaid billing capacity
Summary
Assistant Superintendent Mindy McGuffin and Director Michelle Robinson outlined additions to LEAP and SIP classrooms, a new transitional self‑contained elementary pilot, expanded staff training and a reported increase in Medicaid billable prescriptions that will raise fee‑for‑service revenue.
Assistant Superintendent for Student Services Mindy McGuffin and Director of Student Services Dr. Michelle Robinson gave the board a wide-ranging update Feb. 18 on special‑education programming, staffing alignment and related services, saying the department has reorganized to improve transitions and broaden on‑site options for students with individualized education programs (IEPs).
McGuffin said the nursing and related‑services teams merged into the student services department this year and that the district aligned student services coordinators along middle‑school feeder patterns to create continuity as students move from preschool through high school. “This structure is creating greater consistency and process and procedure as well as improved communication and collaboration during preschool to elementary and elementary to middle school transitions,” McGuffin said.
For fall 2025, McGuffin told the board that LEAP (a specialized program) will be available at each middle school with two new LEAP classrooms at Sunling and one at Thomas Jefferson; additional SIP (self‑contained special education) classrooms will be added at several elementary sites (Pleasant Hill, Marion Jordan, Jane Addams) and a new transitional self‑contained classroom has been piloted at Sanborn.
“The classroom is not a new program. It is an extension of the resource model continuum in the elementary school with a dedicated teacher and a classroom space for students who require a smaller environment and more structure while still accessing the general‑education curriculum,” McGuffin said.
McGuffin and Robinson said the department is piloting models to increase in‑home‑school programming and reduce transportation burdens by placing students closer to their resident high schools. They also described expanded professional development for teachers and related services staff, including literacy training (SPIRE), assistive‑technology training and discipline‑specific workshops for adapted physical education and vision/hearing itinerant services.
On funding, the presentation reported a large administrative effort to secure physician prescriptions required for Medicaid billing. Administrative staff and therapists pursued consents and scripts from physicians; the district reported growing from about 81 returned prescriptions mid‑February last year to 560 scripts this year, allowing the district to bill Medicaid for approximately 400 more students than the prior year.
During questions, board members sought copies of the presentation materials and details about the program review for SIP and LEAP. McGuffin said the slide deck and video presentation would be posted and that the program review updated entrance and exit criteria for SIP classrooms. Staff also said NSSEO consultants helped facilitate review meetings but did not drive program decisions.
No formal board action was taken; staff asked to provide further documentation and follow‑up on discipline‑specific professional development offerings and the program‑review outputs.
