Minooka Grade Schools resume own special education program

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Updated: March 1, 2012 8:20AM

MINOOKA — Thirty special education teachers and support professionals got their jobs back Wednesday night, bringing a round of applause for the school board.

The Minooka Grade School Board approved rehiring the majority of employees who lost their jobs due to the district’s decentralization from the Grundy County Special Education Co-op.

While the teachers and support professionals worked with students at Minooka schools, they were employed by the cooperative.

“It’s the board’s and administration’s belief that they were always our staff and we have treated them like our staff,” Superintendent Al Gegenheimer said.

The district approved decentralizing last October, effective for the 2012-13 academic year. The decision was made after considering the move for a couple of years.

The board finally decided to take the step after three other districts — Coal City, Gardener/South Wilmington and Morris Grade — had decentralized.

The move was made to have more continuity with the academic programs, allowing teachers to provide the same curriculum as other students in the district. There could also be an opportunity to save a little money, Gegenheimer has said.

“This action will not increase our special education costs, but will allow the district to have greater control aligning the curriculum in the special needs classrooms,” he said.

In addition to the special education teachers, four social workers and three school psychologists were re-hired.

A few positions have yet to be filled, left vacant after a couple staff members chose not to leave the co-op and the district decided not to ask a few others back, Gegenheimer said.

A director for the program also needs to be hired.

A memo of understanding was approved by the board, and agreed upon by the teacher and support professional unions, that gives displaced co-op members all of their service credits.

Typically, district policy only allows new hires to retain up to five years of past teaching experience credit. But the change, affective in this instance only, allows them to keep all their seniority.

“Many of the staff spent their entire careers in Minooka serving our students,” Gegenheimer said. “We want to offer them all their service credit.”

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