Dixon therapeutic day school plan picks up steam

DIXON — Dixon Public Schools having its own therapeutic day school for students with special needs?

At this stage, it’s an idea on paper, a month-old proposal.

But already, there’s an indication of how sorely such a facility is needed.

Superintendent Margo Empen said she’s fielding calls from superintendents at other schools with the same questions: When are you opening? Are you taking students?

There is a capacity by which a school like this can be successful and there’s a capacity at which this school will not be successful.”

—  Marc Campbell, business manager, on the fiscal viability of operating a therapeutic day school

Empen shared those exchanges during the discussion portion of Wednesday’s board meeting.

“We won’t have a problem finding enough kids?” board member Jon Wadsworth said.

“I don’t believe so,” Empen said.

Board President Linda Wegner then observed that other nearby school districts must be in the same boat as Dixon: unable to place a growing number of students requiring such services when the few existing facilities out there are booked solid.

The administration’s stated preference is that students requiring special needs should remain in Dixon. They’ve found that those being sent to sites in Rockford and Quad Cities become disconnected from the student body and miss out on that sense of belonging and community at their home school.

Based on the discussion points made by Empen and business manager Marc Campbell, having a number of tuition-paying out-of-district students would be an essential component to making the school work from a financial perspective.

Campbell provided board members with projections that amplified an earlier point: 25 students was too few to justify the investment at the Lutheran Social Services site in Nachusa; while that site’s classroom capacity of 100 students was too many from an operational standpoint.

In fact, a home-grown therapeutic day school will need a few years to hit a sweet spot in terms of enrollment, projections show. Ideally, a therapeutic day school would build toward having a stable enrollment of 60 students, with a portion being tuition-paying, within six years.

“There is a capacity by which a school like this can be successful and there’s a capacity at which this school will not be successful,” Campbell said.

Coming out of the March meeting, Wadsworth and board Secretary Brandon Rogers had requested more information about the financial implications of the proposal.

The district already is devoting $1.9 million in tuition payments so about two dozen students can attend eight speciality schools outside the district.

Setting up a therapeutic day center at Nachusa would cost about $300,000 to buy the property and another $2 million over five years to renovate it. There are also associated costs, such as staffing.

Rogers, in particular, wanted to know if the initial investment would be a drain on the district’s resources, thus affecting other programs. After reviewing the materials, he said: “This definitely eases my concern.”

Campbell also provided a rundown on how the state reimbursement process works, which essentially covers the costs for any individual special needs student. He said his financial projections took that differential into account.

As a point of emphasis, Campbell again brought up staffing, especially for qualified teachers and support personnel. There is a direct relationship between enrollment and staffing, how one directly affects the other.

Based on that, it seems that should the district get the go-ahead for the project, recruiting and hiring amid a worker shortage is going to be the biggest challenge the administration faces.

The administration said if it gets approval, it will work toward the therapeutic day school to be operating by August 2024.