LaSalle County officials outline plan to hire ROE special-education teacher for juvenile detention

LaSalle County probation and detention staff on May 26 told the Law and Justice Committee that one youth remains placed at Chaddock and is receiving treatment at a rate of $554.46 per day.

Chuck, a detention official, said the facility has not provided a firm discharge date but ‘‘we may be looking towards middle end of June’’ for a possible discharge. He described a longstanding gap: the detention home's teacher is a county employee who is not certified to provide special-education instruction required for students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs).

To address that, county staff outlined a plan to subcontract with the Regional Office of Education (ROE). Chuck said the ROE has posted and found a candidate who would work roughly 30 hours a week for 12 months, complete required IEP documentation, and coordinate with students’ home districts. ‘‘We would be subcontracting the ROE,’’ he said, and estimated the arrangement would cost about $6,394 per month.

Probation representative Susan provided the caseload context that prompted the need: LaSalle County has 83 active juvenile cases and eight administrative juvenile cases. The county intends to cover the subcontract through state orphanage education funds, staff said.

County staff said Jeremiah is reviewing a draft contract with the ROE. The board had no further questions at the time and asked staff to move forward with contract review and return with any required details.

The committee later moved into executive session on unrelated security matters; no vote on the ROE subcontract was recorded in the public portion of the meeting.