Dixon school board to vote on $300,000 for Nachusa site to create therapeutic center

DIXON — The Dixon Public Schools administration is asking the board of education Wednesday to approve the $300,000 purchase of property from Lutheran Social Services of Illinois.

The campus will be used by the school district to establish a therapeutic school by the start of the 2024-25 school year.

“How do we get these students transitioned back to our school?”

—  Superintendent Margo Empen, when she laid out the therapeutic day school proposal in March.

The board meets in regular session 6 p.m. at the administration office on Franklin Grove Road. The meeting was moved to earlier on the May calendar to meet the 40-day requirement to seat board members after a consolidated election.

The administration wants to establish its own therapeutic day school — designed especially for students with special needs — so it no longer has to send those students outside the district.

The therapeutic day school plan was addressed during meetings in March and April.

The administration says it would prefer to instruct special needs students within the district so they remain connected to the student body and the community. Some students sent out of district are on buses up to three hours a day.

“How do we get these students transitioned back to our school?” said Superintendent Margo Empen, when she laid out the proposal in March.

[ Dixon Public Schools makes initial proposal for therapeutic day school ]

[ Dixon Public Schools pursues Nachusa site for possible therapeutic day school. ]

The district is spending $1.9 million a year in out-of-district tuition costs for special needs students.

The other problem is that demand for therapeutic day school services has grown to the point that the existing special schools are filled up, requiring applicants to be put on waiting lists. There’s no guarantee students who require these services can gain access to them.

In March, the administration outlined three options for establishing therapeutic day school sites within the district, but the board indicated a preference for the Nachusa site.

According to the motion, the district agrees to pay LSSI $300,000 for the property at the corner of Illinois state Route 38 and Nachusa Road.

The agreement includes a leaseback request by LSSI to continue using two buildings it occupies: the administrative building and the foster care building. LSSI would rent those annually at a cost of $115,200.

The remaining buildings — 10 classrooms, a gym, cafeteria and office space — would be used by Dixon Public Schools as a day school. The district estimates it would cost $2 million over five years to renovate the campus.

The district’s business manager said in meetings that the financial restructuring the district undertook at midyear enables it to fund the project.

The Nachusa campus buildings could accommodate up to 100 students. But to be self-sustaining with other operational costs — such as staffing — the district thinks a stable enrollment of 60 students would be ideal. If a portion of those students were tuition-paying from out of district, then it hopes to achieve that after six school years.

After the initial proposal, some board members had questions about costs, especially whether the investment could affect funding for other programs. Based on discussion during the April meeting, it seemed most of those concerns were addressed by the administration.

The agreement would be contingent on passage by LSSI’s own governing board, as it is a not-for-profit entity.

5 key items on Dixon Public Schools board of education agenda

The May 10 meeting of Dixon Public Schools includes these other agenda items.

1 Authorize the results of the consolidated election of April 4, in which the top three vote-getters were David T. Fritts at 1,549, Kathleen Schaefer at 1,366 and Melissa Gates at 1,275. Each will be sworn in for a four-year term. The board will recognize outgoing board member Rachel Cocar.

2 Approve power purchase agreements for each of the five existing campuses in the district with Illinois Energy Consortium Powered by Future Green, which will install solar panels over the summer. The district’s proposal to the board has changed in that projected savings are less than original estimates. In October, Future Green said it made a conservative estimate of savings at $1.96 million. The revised savings estimate, using 2% inflation as a guide, is just a little over $1 million. The district’s current power supply agreement will end this summer.

3 Approve a five-year lease for a 14-passenger 2023 Chevrolet/Collins activity bus with lease payments of $18,992 per year. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, activity buses are in short supply and in high demand. At the board’s request, the administration did provide a schedule for phasing out its gas vehicle fleet with electrical vehicles, starting with a driver’s ed sedan in July 2027.

4 Approve a memorandum of understanding with the two unions for teachers and staff to add an “employee plus one” insurance premium level for all employees.

5 Recognize Employees of the Year. Honors go to Matt Magnafici and Mike Miller.

This story was updated noon on Wednesday, May 10 to correctly list recipients for employee of the year honors.