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Schools

Northville School Board Approves Special Education Agreement with Livonia

Students that are not covered by special education center programs will have a new option for job training and life skills instruction in Livonia.

The Northville school board voted unanimously Tuesday night to enter into a one-year partnership with Livonia Schools to provide education services for special education students not covered by center programs.

The cooperative education program agreement, which the board acted on at its regular meeting, will allow students that do not fit into existing special education center programs to secure instruction for a half-day in Livonia.

Lynne Mossoian, the director of Special Services for Northville Schools, said the agreement will provide some options for students with mild cognitive impairments or autism. Some are educated in the public school system until they are 26 years old.

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“The students in the program have received a Certificate of Completion from NHS,” she said. “These students no longer qualify under the new Wayne County RESA (regional educational service agency) guidelines for center programs that now only service students with moderate and/or severe disabilities.”

Under the new agreement, up to four Northville students will be able to enroll in the Livonia Transition Program. Any additional students would have to get special permission from Livonia Schools.

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Students covered by the agreement would receive job coaching by a special education teacher in the morning at a work site through Northville Schools, and would then be bussed to Livonia to eat lunch and attend classes. They would learn foundational academic skills, career planning, money management, social skills and current events in transition classes taught by a special education teacher.

Northville Public Schools will pay Livonia Schools one half of the full-time equivalent of the Northville per-pupil foundation grant to educate the students, according to the contract.

The new agreement will expire on June 30, 2012, and at that time the district will evaluate whether to continue the agreement beyond that time, Mossoian said.

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