Lorain Schools looks to meet special education needs in-house

LORAIN — Lorain Schools may convert one of its existing school buildings into a specialized school for children with autism and intense needs. Linda Coad, executive director of exceptional children, gave Board of Education members an overview of a potential plan to redistrict the school's 14 buildings to educate students with intensive special needs in the district rather than placing them in specialized schools outside the county. Lorain Schools already serves many students with special needs, including autism diagnoses, in part through its 22 moderate/intensive need special education classrooms — but those facilities are not enough for some children, she said. There is a a growing need for placement for children with significant needs within the district, Coad said, as Lorain Schools opened 10 additional moderate/intensive special education classrooms in the past two years, with seven of those classes serving only children with autism. Moderate/intensive need special education classrooms are separate spaces for children with significant academic, social, physical and/or behavioral needs and include related services like occupational and speech therapy. Looking to keep those Titans within the district's community, Coad began exploring the idea of serving high-needs children in-house. For students whose needs eclipse what the district's on-site special education classrooms can serve, the district places them in specialized off-site programs. For the 2025-26 school year, 34 students were directly placed by the district in separate facilities, Coad said, all of them requiring transportation outside the county. She said it costs the district about $2.1 million in tuition, plus another $1.5 million in transportation, to cover the education of those 34 children. Through researching placements for a specific child, Coad and her team found Mentor CARES — a specialized school for children with intense needs housed within Mentor Schools. "It's the only — that I know of — public school system that's created their own separate facility within their school system," she said. The Mentor CARES program started 15 years ago from a $2.5 million "loan" from the district to the startup, she said, which helped cover the costs needed to renovate a former elementary building into the site. The loan was paid back by Mentor CARES to the district at large in three years — two years ahead of schedule, Coad said, and Mentor CARES has been a self-sustaining part of the district since. She said the program educates 84 students, with two-thirds of its students enrolled from surrounding districts through placements or EdChoice scholarships. The building has occupational therapists, speech therapists and other specialists in-house, and tailors its schedule to the individual children it serves, Coad said. Coad, whose daughter attends an off-site program outside of Lorain, said it is challenging for her to be a part of the community — she does not get home until late in the afternoon and her friends are based in Cleveland, where she attends school. "I just think what we do for our families matters and this is one of the most important things we can do to keep them connected to our community and the programs we have," Coad said. The hope is at least some of the 34 children placed in off-site programs, or others utilizing EdChoice scholarships, may return to Lorain Schools if a specialized building was available. Superintendent Jeff Graham said if the district moves forward with the project, its goal is to have it in place for the 2026-27 school year. During Monday's meeting, board members lauded the idea. "We have an obligation to all of our students — the ones we're sending out, they're still ours and this looks like a great model," school board President Jay Ferguson said. Costs for the proposal were not immediately available on Tuesday. In other news Lorain Schools hired a board member's daughter to run its communications department. Moriah Ballard was hired as the director of communications and community relations, effective Dec. 1. She will be paid $91,000 for two years. Mark Ballard, a longtime board member and Moriah's father, abstained from the vote. The board also accepted Mark Ballard II's resignation as a Lorain High School paraprofessional. Ballard II — the senior Ballard's son and Moriah Ballard's brother — secured a seat on the school board, effective Jan. 1. Contact Carissa Woytach at (440) 329-7245 or cwoytach@chroniclet.com.