District outlines special education supports, new case-manager approach

A district special education leader reviewed Proviso Township High School District 209’s continuum of services for students with disabilities, saying the district provides co-taught general-education classes, smaller instructional special-education classes and life-skills programs for students with more significant intellectual or cognitive needs. "All of those are met according to what the students' IEP says," the presenter said.

She described supports including speech and language, occupational and physical therapy, assistive technology, social work and classroom supports, and said teachers can access students' IEPs and 504 plans through an "Embrace" portal and a PowerSchool accommodations dropdown. On staffing, the presenter said dedicated full-time case managers will take on monitoring and coordination duties previously squeezed into a single daily period for teachers, freeing classroom teachers to focus on instruction. "Now we are giving some teachers this case management role and that is their job," she said.

The presenter also outlined parent engagement efforts including a Special Education Parent Advisory Committee (CPAC) and a monthly "director's dish" planning lunch to coordinate feeder-district communication. She said the district will expand the Office of Specialized Services website to include printable forms for homebound and McKinney‑Vento resources. The district reported it entered the current administration with seven legal cases related to special education and has reduced that caseload to one after addressing a state corrective action plan within 30 days.