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Board approves High Desert ESD local service plan to preserve regional menu of services
Summary
The Bend‑La Pine Schools Board of Directors voted unanimously Feb. 11 to approve the High Desert Educational Service District local service plan. The plan lists a menu of shared services — from special education therapies to cybersecurity consulting — that districts may purchase as needed.
The Bend‑La Pine Schools Board of Directors on Feb. 11 voted to approve the High Desert Educational Service District (High Desert ESD) local service plan (LSP), a menu of regional services districts may purchase on an as‑needed basis.
Sarah Johnson, superintendent of the High Desert ESD, told the board the LSP is developed collaboratively by regional districts and organized around four service categories required under state legislation: administrative and support services, children with special needs, school improvement services and technology services. “Those items are decided upon by your administrative team and the money is spent on an as needed basis,” Johnson said during the presentation.
Nut graf: The LSP approval does not obligate Bend‑La Pine Schools to buy every item listed. Instead, the plan gives the district access to regional offerings — including legal services, applied behavior analysis, occupational and physical therapy, language translation, cybersecurity consulting and career and technical education supports — that the district can select from when needs arise.
Johnson identified services Bend‑La Pine has used in prior years: under administrative and support services the district has used legal services and social‑work support; under special education the menu includes applied behavior analysis, autism services, early intervention and extended‑year programs; under school improvement the district participates in Better Together and career and technical education partnerships; and under technology the ESD provides information security and software/system services on a consultative basis. “You don’t buy everything in the menu, but you buy those services that your district would like to have,” Johnson said.
Board procedure and vote: Director Ross Tomlin moved to approve the LSP; the motion was seconded from the dais and, after no discussion was recorded, the board chair called the vote. The result was recorded as unanimous approval.
What happens next: Johnson said the approved LSP will be used by the ESD as it negotiates and collaborates with Bend‑La Pine’s superintendent and administrative team to determine which menu services the district will purchase this year. The board’s vote authorizes Bend‑La Pine to participate under the High Desert ESD LSP; any actual purchases will follow district procurement and budgeting processes.
Why it matters: The LSP centralizes access to specialized services that individual districts can find costly to provide on their own. That shared model can improve access to special‑education therapies, translation services and cybersecurity expertise without forcing the district to maintain full‑time staff for every specialty.
Ending: The motion to approve the High Desert ESD local service plan passed unanimously. Johnson told directors she appreciated the collaboration and said the ESD will work with district leadership to determine specific purchases. No dollar totals or specific contracts were approved at the Feb. 11 meeting; those decisions will come later through the district’s budgeting and procurement process.
