Stanley-Boyd Schools has a new resource, following approval at the February school board meeting of a contract with the Medford School District for a partnership called SOAR, or Students Open to Achieving Reality.
The new partnership agreement set up pursuant to Wisconsin Statutes 66.03.01 and Department of Public Instruction Chapter PI-14.02 is for 18 to 21-year-old students with disabilities that have an Individualized Education Program (IEP) and who need additional time to work on IEP goals and objectives. The objectives as sought may include independent and daily living, work and vocational skills, and preparatory college skills.
Medford will provide room space in the Taylor County Educational Building under the agreement approved Monday, Feb. 23, along with assessment, placement, programming, and instruction, with resident school districts remaining responsible for the writing and development of individual student IEPs with information provided by Medford. Students will attend school Monday through Thursday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Taylor County Educational Building, attending work or volunteer sites in the afternoons in their local school district.
Students interested in participating in SOAR will need to fill out an application packet and be accepted by the SOAR Advisory Council, while the resident school district will maintain copies of their high school diploma until completion of SOAR.
Other school districts participating in the Medford administered SOAR consortium include Medford, Phillips, Colby, and Rib Lake. SOAR consortium members will be charged a $7,500 participation fee, with additional costs to each district based on percentage of overall program costs divided by the total number of students, after subtraction of the $7,500 participation fee.
Districts will still claim respective attending students as residents in initial starting head counts and claim equalization aid for them, with districts outside Medford receiving a proportional share of state or federal aid for pupils for whom Medford School District received tuition.
Approved with motion by Denise Hoffstatter seconded by Bob Geist, the new SOAR consortium agreement passed unanimously at the February school board meeting for Stanley-Boyd.