Special-education director outlines new 'Pathways' structure, reports drop in restrictive procedures

John Weekley, director of special education for the cooperative serving Monticello, Becker and Big Lake, told the Monticello Public School District board on Aug. 18 that the cooperative has reorganized several intensive programs under a single 'Pathways' umbrella to improve student transitions and staff collaboration. "The Pathways program will have our level 4 programs for foundations 1 ... foundations 2 ... and our RISE program," Weekley said, describing the consolidation and its goal of reintegrating students into their home schools.

Weekley said the cooperative added an instructional coach position for 2025–26 to support new special-education teachers and that staff will continue evaluating supports across member districts. He also described plans to consolidate the separate 18–22 transition programs into a single continuum to allow students to move between levels of independence more readily.

On behavioral outcomes, Weekley said the district has seen a steady decrease in the use of restrictive procedures over the last five years and that his team "didn't have any restrictive procedures in our setting 4 programs after, I believe, it was March." He credited training and a program called Ukeru for contributing to reduced interventions, while noting implementation challenges because building designs and staffing differ across sites.

Weekley provided counts to place the cooperative’s work in scale: according to his presentation, Monticello had about 758 students receiving special education services — roughly 18.6% of the district’s enrollment — and the cooperative employs ‘‘around the 100-and-something realm’’ directly and ‘‘300 and some’’ special-education staff systemwide. He said exact updated counts will be available after the December reporting cycle.

Weekley previewed a special-education "blueprint" and invited board members to tour cooperative programs. He also named recent staffing changes and hires in coordinator roles and said three new coordinators — Brian Burns, Chelsea Wickland and Jenna O’Brien — will join the team. "We have some people that I have to say farewell to," he added, naming Rachel Casper, Lana Tauburg and Monica O’Neil as coordinators who are moving to other roles.

The board asked questions about supervision and staffing ratios; Weekley described shared supervisory responsibilities across superintendents and principals of member districts and reiterated the cooperative’s goal that students be viewed as general-education students first, with special-education supports layered on. The presentation closed with an invitation to email Weekley for detailed questions and an offer to schedule coop tours.

The board did not take formal action on the Pathways plan at the meeting; Weekley said more data and implementation details would follow.