As Melissa ISD continues the transition away from being a member district of the Collin County Special Education Cooperative (CCSEC), parents and community members may have questions both about the role the CCSEC has played in the past and what changes might be expected.  As a result, a short overview is included herein.

Parents and community members may or may not realize that Melissa ISD has been a member district of the CCSEC for many years. There was a time when most of the school districts in Collin County were a part of the cooperative. However, over the years, other member districts such as McKinney ISD, Frisco ISD, and Wylie ISD, just to name a few, have grown and transitioned away from the CCSEC.  As a result, the cooperative has become increasingly smaller and unable to maintain financial viability. In fact, all the current member districts, (Melissa, Prosper, Anna, Blue Ridge, Farmersville, and Community) of the Collin County Special Education Cooperative have indicated that they will not continue to participate in the cooperative at the end of the current school year. As a result, the CCSEC will cease to exist and close it's doors after June 30, 2010.

What does that mean to Melissa ISD? Not as much as might be anticipated. Melissa ISD began developing an in house special education department quite a few years ago.  All Melissa ISD special education teachers are already employed by MISD, and Melissa ISD began serving as the fiscal agent and district of oversight for all the cooperative four years ago. As a result, the only full-time services currently provided by the special education cooperative that will need to be brought in-house are the positions of Diagnostician/Licensed Specialist in School Psychology and a licensed Speech Therapist. Students and parents can expect the continuance of uninterrupted services in areas of ARD committee processes, mainstream classroom support, resource classroom service, life-skills classroom service, vision impairment services, adaptive technology, hearing services, speech therapy, counseling and social skills development, occupational therapy, physical therapy, music therapy, behavior adaption unit services, pre-school program for children with disabilities services, etc.

Certainly a short overview is not going to answer all the questions that parents and community members may have as the cooperative moves toward dissolution. As a result, please be encouraged to visit directly with your child's teacher and/or campus administrator to make sure that we are aware of individualized questions that we may need to address as the transition process continues. In the meantime, here's a timeline of what you can expect in the coming months.   

December 2009  

The Boards of Trustee in each CCSEC member district elected to withdrawal from the cooperative;

January 18, 2010

The firm of Morgan, Davis, and Company, P.C. presented the results of an independent financial audit of the CCSEC to the Melissa ISD Board of Trustees;

January 20, 2010

The Superintendents of each CCSEC member district signed a resolution to be forward to the Texas Education Agency indicating the dissolution of the Collin County Special Education Cooperative;

January 21, 2010

Melissa ISD initiated nationwide job postings for the following two positions:

• Diagnostician / Licensed Specialist in School Psychology
• Licensed Speech Therapist;

February - June 2010

• All student services will continue without interruption;

• The Collin County Special Education Cooperative will continue to provide all currently contracted support services;

• Melissa ISD will hire a full-time Diagnostician / Licensed Specialist in School Psychology and a Licensed Speech Therapist. These two positions will begin their new assignment in Melissa ISD in July 2010.

June 30, 2010    

The Collin County Special Education Cooperative will close;

September - December 2010    

An independent financial audit of remaining Collin County Special Education Cooperative funds will be conducted.

January 2011