The Arc of North Dakota Opposes Proposed Segregated Level D Special Education Facility in Grand Forks
Updated: Oct 6
The Arc of North Dakota is deeply concerned about Grand Forks Public Schools’ proposal to establish a separate “Level D” special education facility. We oppose the creation of a standalone segregated school for students with disabilities. We call on the district to stop this proposal and instead invest in the supports students need within their neighborhood schools.
The Arc Upper Valley, serving the Grand Forks area, has been actively working with families by supporting parents on advocacy and IEP questions, and collaborating with the district on these issues. Their efforts provide valuable insight into how staffing changes and service decisions impact students. As such, their involvement should be integral to any discussions about the future of special education in Grand Forks. Families should not have to face these decisions alone, and their voices must be taken into account before the district makes significant choices.
Level D represents the most restrictive special education placement available within the district. It removes students from their neighborhood schools and from regular opportunities to learn alongside their nondisabled peers.
Special education is a service, not a place.
A separate classroom, wing, or school should not define it. It is the individualized instruction, supports, accommodations, and services a student needs to access their education.
The goal should be to bring those supports to the student—not remove the student from their school to receive them.
Students with significant disabilities may require intensive, individualized services and supports. The Arc of North Dakota strongly supports providing those services. But intensive support does not automatically require a separate school.
A student’s disability should not determine the building in which they are educated.
Our concern is heightened because this proposal comes amid significant districtwide staffing reductions and specific cuts to special education supports. For the 2026–27 school year, Grand Forks Public Schools reduced special education paraprofessional staffing across the district to approximately one paraprofessional for every three students.
When support is removed from neighborhood schools, students may struggle not because inclusion has failed, but because the resources necessary to make inclusion successful have been taken away.
We are especially concerned about creating a system in which paraprofessional support is reduced, student needs become more difficult to meet, and those difficulties are then used to justify removing students from their neighborhood schools.
The answer to under-resourced inclusive classrooms cannot be segregation.
The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act requires schools to educate students with disabilities in the least restrictive environment appropriate to their individual needs. Placement decisions must be individualized and made through the student’s IEP team, with parents as equal participants.
A staffing formula, districtwide ratio, budget decision, or availability of a separate facility cannot replace an individualized determination of what a student needs to access their education.
The district’s September 29 letter from Superintendent Terry Brenner and Dr. Elisa Diederich attempted to reassure families about recent changes. But parents and teachers continue to share concerns about reduced supports, increased isolation, and students losing skills they previously had.
Those concerns deserve more than reassurance. They deserve action.
The proposal also raises serious financial questions. If Grand Forks Public Schools confronts major budget constraints, the district should explain why it would direct resources toward leasing, staffing, and operating a separate facility rather than restoring and strengthening supports in the schools students already attend.
The Arc of North Dakota believes Grand Forks Public Schools should:
End plans to establish a standalone Level D special education facility.
Restore paraprofessional and other educational supports based on the individual needs identified in students’ IEPs rather than relying primarily on staffing ratios.
Invest in specialized supports, training, behavioral services, and staffing within neighborhood schools so students can remain members of their school communities.
Ensure that decisions about services and placement are made individually through the IEP process and are never driven by staffing shortages, budgets, or the availability of a segregated program.
Continue working directly with The Arc Upper Valley, families, educators, and disability advocates before making major decisions affecting students with disabilities.
Give parents a meaningful role in decisions before plans are finalized, not after.
Families should also remember that while the district may encourage them to begin conversations with their child’s principal, the principal alone does not determine a student’s special education services or placement.
Parents may request an IEP meeting, and the IEP team makes decisions about changes to a student’s services or placement, with the family actively involved.
The Arc Upper Valley remains available to support families with advocacy and IEP-related questions and to continue working with the district toward solutions that keep students supported, included, and connected to their school communities.
The Arc of North Dakota recognizes that educating students with complex needs requires resources, expertise, creativity, and individualized planning. We support schools in doing that work, and we support providing students with the level of assistance they need to succeed.
What we do not support is building a separate school for students with disabilities because the supports necessary for inclusion have become difficult or expensive to provide.
Grand Forks Public Schools should invest in students where they belong: in their schools, classrooms, and communities.
Issued by The Arc of North Dakota
Kirsten Dvorak
Executive Director, The Arc of North Dakota
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