WISD votes to pull out of special ed co-op

By Chris Edwards
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New Woodville High School Assistant Principal Andrew Ireland introduced himself to the Woodville ISD Board of Trustees at Monday night’s meeting. CHRIS EDWARDS | TCBWOODVILLE – In the lone action item on Monday night’s agenda, the Woodville ISD Board of Trustees voted to pull the district out of the Tyler County Special Education Cooperative.

The co-op program services all of the county’s five school districts. At the board’s regular monthly meeting in June, the trustees and administrators heard a presentation from Emily Wilson, who serves as the co-op’s director of special education.

Wilson reported that when it began in 2014, the co-op serviced 364 students, and was at 564, at the end of the last snapshot of reportage.

WISD Superintendent Lisa Meysembourg recommended to the board to sever the agreement due to the number of students being serviced from WISD. Meysembourg said at the last meeting that while other districts contribute financially, the program is housed at WISD facilities, and the district is responsible for all of the staffing. She noted that keeping some of the students staffed can be difficult, due to the varying degrees of disability the co-op services.

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Meysembourg said that withdrawing from the co-op is a year-long process, and the district will have to notify Texas Education Agency, and work on the transition to implement the change, but will continue to take part in the co-op for the 2023-24 academic year.

While Meysembourg said that no one had reached out to her with questions after announcing intentions to possibly pull-out in June, Wilson said that some of the students are able to return to their home districts to get an education due to how TEA is monitoring results-based accountability.

Adjustments have been made, she said in her report, and more students are being put into general education, as a result, which has allowed them to attend their home districts.

Facilities project update given

During Monday night’s meeting, the WISD board also heard a brief update from Brayden Griffin, project manager with Gallagher Construction Management, which is overseeing the construction of the new Woodville Elementary School campus.

Griffin said that bids for the project are due by July 25, and by the second week of August, the firm would like to request a special meeting with the board.