In a pivot, D112 seeks to leave special education cooperative — meaning all 18 partner districts now want out

A growing number of North Shore school districts are moving forward with plans to withdraw from a regional cooperative providing special education services to area students, leaving its future in doubt.

North Shore School District 112’s administration recommended on June 10 that its upcoming Board of Education vote on June 26 to leave the TrueNorth Educational Cooperative 804. Township High School District 113’s board voted that same night to file a notice of intent to withdraw. 

D112’s recommendation marks an about-face after Superintendent Dr. Michael Lubelfeld said the district “has no intention of withdrawing from the cooperative” during a May 20 board meeting, and the D112 board voted to deny nearby Glenbrook High School District 225’s petition to withdraw.

D112’s administration highlighted that all 17 other member districts of the cooperative have now indicated intent to withdraw from the program, which could leave any school district still in the cooperative by July 1 potentially liable to absorb all of the cooperative’s assets and 120 staff members.

“If 18 school districts issue notices of intent to withdraw, speaking as one public school superintendent who may reluctantly have to ask you to do that, I would say that we 18 superintendents are screaming to our leadership council to do something please,” Lubelfeld said on June 10. 

TrueNorth Educational Cooperative 804 cooperative formed in 1960 as one of the first special education joint agreements in Illinois.

It provides a wide array of specialized services at its two Highland Park campuses to North Shore school districts who might not have independent resources for programs like early childhood support, speech therapy, adapted physical education and professional development.

All children who currently access services from the cooperative will continue to have access in the upcoming 2025-26′ school year as TrueNorth anticipates no changes to its staffing, programs or services in that time, a May 28 letter to families from Kurt Schneider, TrueNorth’s superintendent, said.

The cooperative expects to gain more guidance from its member school districts by the end of this calendar year — guidance that will drive decision-making in early 2026, Schneider wrote.

“The bottom line is that all students and families will continue to receive the special education programs and services they need,” Schneider wrote. “What we do not yet know is whether it will be through a Cooperative or at the individual school district level.”

Districts who initiate the two-year withdrawal process can also stop that procedure and revisit their decision to withdraw, Schneider wrote. If D112 and D113 move forward with leaving the cooperative, their formal withdrawals won’t go into effect until June 30, 2027.

That gives the school districts time to create plans for how their students who receive services from TrueNorth will be supported moving forward. If the cooperative dissolves, D112 would find appropriate, safe private or public therapeutic settings for its 15 students currently serviced, Lubelfeld said. 

Glenview Community Consolidated School District 34 has already gained approval to effectively withdraw from the cooperative on June 30, 2026, and D225 is seeking to withdraw that same date. New Trier Township High School District 203 is also seeking to withdraw effective June 30, 2027.

D112 Board Member Lisa Hirsh, the district’s liaison to the cooperative, said she has noticed other school districts frustrated with the cooperative’s financial model, where districts may pay expensive membership fees but the cooperative benefits some districts more than others. 

Including membership and student tuition expenses, TrueNorth services cost D112 approximately $1.9 million in the 2024–2025 school year, and the district anticipates a comparable cost for the upcoming year, Ben Finfer, D112’s director of communications, previously said in an email.

Some districts are also moving toward more inclusive models for special education, where students with disabilities are educated in the local schools or communities they live in, Hirsh said.

In any case, Lubelfeld said there is an “absolute need for change in the structures of governance” at the cooperative as member districts are “powerless” to the leadership council of administrators at TrueNorth.

The superintendent emphasized developments that potentially threaten the future of the cooperative are moving “really fast and it’s not OK,” but that he is also optimistic a resolution is possible. 

“The crux of this is our kids,” Hirsh said. “We’re talking about money, and I want people to remember that we’re also talking about kids and I don’t want that to be lost.”

The Record is a nonprofit, nonpartisan community newsroom that relies on reader support to fuel its independent local journalism.

Become a member of The Record to fund responsible news coverage for your community.

Already a member? You can make a tax-deductible donation at any time.