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Teachers, clinicians and parents urge board to slow merger of FOCUS therapeutic program
Summary
Multiple FOCUS teachers, clinicians and parents told the board that merging the district’s FOCUS therapeutic day‑treatment program with other districtwide programs and moving it into a preschool‑sized facility would risk student safety and erase decades of clinical supports; speakers asked for a working group, site visits and more transparent planning.
A stream of parents, teachers and clinical staff at Tuesday’s Des Moines Independent Comm School District meeting urged the board to pause and revise plans to merge the FOCUS therapeutic day‑treatment program into a consolidated districtwide program and to relocate it to the Woodlawn preschool building.
Jenny Shipley, a Broadlawn clinical supervisor who identified herself as part of the FOCUS partnership, told the board that FOCUS provides intensive day‑treatment services with on‑site Broadlawns clinicians and weekly psychiatric consultation that are integral to student…
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