Under new direction

Dr. Judy Hackett admits she has no sense of direction when she travels.

"I go around with my little MapQuest things and I still get lost," said the new superintendent of the Northwest Suburban Special Education Organization.

But her colleagues know north, south, east and west don't throw Hackett off her path when it comes to her new responsibilities.

The administrators from the eight districts that comprise the NSSEO cooperative hail Hackett's leadership as visionary, her perspective as evolutionary and her approaches as flexible but persistent.

"Judy has infused a new energy and vision into this organization," said the NSSEO director of human resources Cathy Kostecki. "Our previous superintendent provided good leadership at the time, but things have changed."

NSSEO formed in 1968 as a joint agreement among its eight member school districts before federal law guaranteed a free and appropriate public education for all children with disabilities, ages 3 to 21.

The districts include Districts 21, 23, 25, 26, 57, 59, 211 and 214.

Kostecki said the organization has struggled with redefining itself and identifying its mission in the face of challenges such as No Child Left Behind expectations and changed budget realities.

"A lot of our challenges could be better addressed if we had more revenue from the state," Hackett said.

NSSEO receives more than 60 percent of its revenue from local funds, and barely 7 percent from the state.

As an Illinois public school special education cooperative, NSSEO participates in a collaboration of efforts with families, member districts, administration, staff and community agencies for the benefit of students with special needs. But lately, those benefits have come at a price for others.

"Not changing things like teacher reimbursements is draining to the local school districts, and the burden on local communities is increasing," Hackett said.

She said not addressing the needs of a community's neediest students contributes most to that burden.

"Those needs don't go away. If students graduate from high school and don't have the necessary skills to provide them with the opportunity to work, then they will continue to be a responsibility for the community."

Hackett's concerns go beyond financial issues. Though she has worked for the past 18 years as an administrator, the root of Hackett's career in special education began with teaching both special education and general, or mainstream, students.

"I always gravitated toward students who struggled to achieve what their peers could do naturally," she said. "It made me focus on the creative side of working with children."

Compromise forms the bedrock of Hackett's philosophy, and she describes it as a "form of art" in which her creative problem-solving skills come in handy.

"We're not working in a system where everything is about you," Hackett said of her negotiations with politicians in Springfield. "I know that everyone needs a certain amount of money and resources, and I want to reach a state where everyone can at least have some level of success with moving forward."

Hackett's vision includes support and training for a student's parents as well as for the students, administrators and teachers, moving toward a more inclusive model of education.

In her previous work at Unit District 203 in Naperville, Hackett pushed her special education program toward inclusion and began integrating students with special needs into general education classes.

"There was a lot of resistance because people weren't comfortable. But we bridged that disconnect by providing skills, resources, and training and now we have a very inclusive model in Naperville," she said. She believes that the districts within NSSEO can achieve that level of understanding as well.

"We need to provide the necessary techniques and consultation so that, to the greatest extent possible, children can remain or return to their regular district schools. We have to provide them with the support that will help them continue to grow and become successful, independent adults in their communities."