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Lake County ROE outlines safe-school placements, virtual programs and countywide services to Warren Township board
Summary
Dr. Karner of the Lake County Regional Office of Education told the Warren Township High School District 121 board that the ROE conducts annual health and life-safety visits, runs a safe-school program for students removed for serious disciplinary reasons, and operates virtual and support programs countywide — including an Illinois Virtual Schools Academy ("over 8,000 students since June 2022"), a referral GPS navigation service, and countywide tutoring.
Dr. Karner, representing the Lake County Regional Office of Education, briefed the Warren Township High School District 121 board on a suite of services the ROE provides to local districts, from health and life-safety compliance visits to virtual education and student supports.
"We conduct health life safety visits every single year," Dr. Karner said, describing annual inspections of public and charter schools and related feedback districts can use to address potential issues. He said the ROE also handles building-permit review for school construction and manages licensure and background checks for substitutes and staff.
On discipline and alternative placement, Dr. Karner described the ROE's safe-school program for grades 6–12, which serves students removed for repeated suspensions or serious offenses. "We ended last year with about 76" students in the safe-school program, he said, and placements can range from about six months up to two years depending on the student and local decisions. The ROE also operates a shorter-term "base" program for students suspended four to 10 days; districts may offer the base placement as an alternative to out-of-school suspension on an offer-and-accept basis.
Dr. Karner highlighted virtual and countywide supports that he said expand access for students across Lake County. "We have served, I'd say over 8,000 students since June 2022," he said of the Illinois Virtual Schools and Academy the ROE helped launch. The ROE maintains a virtual course catalog and said it is partnering with the University of Illinois on grant-funded work to expand course offerings.
The ROE also operates referral GPS, a care-navigation platform the speaker said has had "over 14,000" countywide users and links families to more than 1,200 providers; the ROE has paid for 320 counseling sessions for students with income or insurance barriers. Dr. Karner described a free tutoring program (available through 6/30/2026) and work-based learning reimbursements tied to districts' SchoolLinks purchases.
Board members asked practical questions about staffing and capacity. Dr. Karner said the safe-school program employs roughly a dozen educators and support staff and that the base program typically serves small cohorts (an average of four to five students, with a nominal maximum of 10) to preserve individualized instruction and social-emotional supports.
On technology and background checks, Dr. Karner said the ROE is implementing updated software to help districts share fingerprinting and background results more efficiently, but that districts often re-run checks on new hires for local protection. He also described a draft intergovernmental agreement (IGA) for mutual aid among Lake County districts to coordinate crisis support and share resources.
The presentation concluded with descriptions of countywide events and grant activity — educator recognition ceremonies, fairs to connect students with employers, and ROE efforts to secure grant funding ("probably about $5,000,000 in grants," he said) to support programs that smaller districts might otherwise struggle to sustain.
The board thanked Dr. Karner for the overview and said members interested in visiting ROE facilities could arrange tours; the superintendent and board indicated they would follow up on specific program uses and potential district visits.
