Sunnyside USD plans in-district Level D program at Los Ranchitos to serve students with intensive emotional disabilities

Sunnyside Unified School District officials presented a plan to establish an in-district Level D self-contained program for students with emotional disabilities at the Los Ranchitos site and asked the board to authorize the necessary facilities approvals.

"By moving our self-contained programs from thirdparty providers to an internal model, we now have direct oversight over the students and the programs," Jerry Holman said during the presentation, describing the district'led model. Holman said each classroom would serve a maximum of 12 students and be staffed by one certified teacher and three personal care assistants.

Mora Engel, who introduced the topic for the special education department, said Los Ranchitos already has a fenced area and other features that make it a suitable dedicated site and that reclassifying parts of the campus as academic space is a required step. Holman explained the next administrative steps: board approval, reactivation of the Los Ranchitos entity ID with the Arizona School Facilities Oversight Board and final authorization through the Arizona Department of Education before the district may formally open the Level D program.

Officials framed the move as a way to keep state funding within Sunnyside and to reduce reliance on external vendors. "We keep that state funding within the district," Holman said, adding that the district'run program would allow Sunnyside to provide direct oversight and continuity of services.

Board members asked procedural questions about inspections and whether the program would accept out-of-district students. Staff said oversight and inspection by the relevant state reviewers are part of the approval process and that the district is initially focused on serving Sunnyside students, though expansion to outside students could be considered later as the program grows.

The board then voted to approve a resolution requesting approval from the Arizona School Facilities Oversight Board for the reduction of square footage pursuant to ARS 15-341G to allow part of Los Ranchitos to be designated as academic space. The motion passed on a roll call with all listed members voting in the affirmative.

The district described staffing, capacity and stepwise approvals as the immediate next steps; officials said the program would remain contingent on the oversight-board reactivation of the Los Ranchitos entity ID and subsequent state approvals.