During public participation at the Dunlap CUSD 323 Board of Education meeting, parent Mackenzie Coffey said she has two children with autism and asked the board to review a special-education placement decision involving her son.

“I have two children who have autism,” Coffey said at the podium. She described submitting a placement request that left her unclear about the outcome and said her son has received Applied Behavior Analysis (ABA) therapy for three-and-a-half years. She said the contracted provider working with the district is operating on a loaner license and she questioned whether the provider holds a required Illinois license to provide services in the district.

Coffey told the board a district program called PEAT was used as an assessment and had been adapted into a classroom setting; she said concerns included mixed disabilities in the classroom and whether children with social-emotional diagnoses alone should be placed in an emotional/behavior classroom. In the public-comment instructions read by staff, the board reminded speakers to identify themselves and limited comment to five minutes and said the board typically does not engage in two-way discussion during the public portion of the meeting.

Board staff indicated information regarding special-education items and other information was provided in the board packet for review. Coffey requested follow-up from the administration; the meeting record shows public-participation matters are often referred to administration for response rather than addressed in-session.

The board did not take formal action during the public-comment period on Coffey’s concerns; staff will be the point of contact for any follow-up.