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Student services committee details plan for specialized programs, SEL framework and staffing ahead of 2025–26 rollouts
Summary
District staff described a multi-year student services action plan and a committee process to expand specialized programming, adopt a DBT-informed social-emotional learning framework for classrooms and prepare staffing and training for elementary and middle-school launches.
A staff member identified as Alicia gave the Park Ridge CCSD 64 board an update on the district’s Student Services Action Plan on Jan. 23, saying the work is intended to clarify and expand the continuum of services and to align specialized programming to the district’s facilities plan.
Alicia described a committee of roughly 54 people that has visited neighboring districts, examined models and broken into four mini-teams—one per program—to develop entrance and exit criteria, staffing needs and professional development plans. She said the district is preparing to open or expand specialized programming at Lincoln and to continue an existing specialized learning classroom (SLC) presently at Washington.
Alicia said the district is exploring a classroom framework used by a neighboring district that was presented by the Chicago DBT Institute; the approach embeds skills such as mindfulness, distress tolerance, emotional regulation and interpersonal effectiveness into classroom instruction. She said administrators and clinicians will need ongoing coaching to implement the framework with fidelity, and that positions to staff the expanded programming are posted now so hires can begin professional development ahead of next school year. A parent university held the prior week drew about 20 parents, she said, and slides from the committee are posted on the district website.
