Dixon’s Thomas J. Dempsey Therapeutic Day School aims to meet needs of special-education students

Dixon Public Schools’ newest addition, Thomas J. Dempsey Therapeutic Day School, is nearing what is sure to be a historic moment for the district – the end of its first school year.

The kindergarten to 12th grade school provides special-education services to students who experience difficulty in their home schools because of severe behavioral or emotional challenges.

It opened Aug. 14, 2024, with two classrooms for 11 students and quickly expanded to three rooms and 16 students in grades kindergarten to eighth, Principal Janine Huffman said.

Opening the school has “been a labor of love,” Superintendent Margo Empen said at Dempsey’s open house Oct. 19, 2024.

Discussions about adding therapeutic day services to the district had been going on for several years. By bringing these students back to Dixon, the district hopes to better incorporate them into the DPS community, Empen said.

“That was a driving factor” behind the district’s creation of the school, Huffman said.

Before opening, in-need students were sent to locations that included the Quad Cities, Rockford and Loves Park. That meant those students weren’t getting home until around 4:30 p.m. and couldn’t participate in a lot of district activities, she said.

Since opening, two Dempsey students participated in a district fundraiser and will get to take a limo ride to Angelo’s for lunch because of how much they raised, Huffman said.

The role of Dempsey is to fill in students’ emotional and social gaps for them to be successful at their home school, which is based on grade level within the district, she said.

The program follows a basic-level system that students move up in throughout the year based on point sheets that track different behaviors, such as following directions, responding to frustration and, for older students, academic goals. At 10 points, students move up a level and earn rewards like recess time or “Dempsey Dollars” to spend at the school store, Huffman said.

At the highest level, which is four, school administration would begin considering whether a student is ready to transition back to their home school, she said.

“We work with the students every day on social, emotional skills, academic skills, things like that,” Huffman said.

Classrooms are blended with one for kindergarten and first, another is second and third and then fourth to eighth. A big focus is regulation, and the staff “tries to find different things that really calm the kids,” Huffman said.

Dempsey’s first through third grade teacher plays calming music and videos in their classroom. The art teacher does therapeutic art with students, and there’s a cool-down room where students can go if they’re emotionally dysregulated.

All Dempsey students have individualized education plans, and a lot of them have some type of trauma and have been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder or another mental health diagnosis.

“It’s not a one-size-fits-all. We tailor the services to the needs of each individual student because every student is different,” Huffman said.

With only 16 students in the entire school, class sizes are significantly smaller than the typical 15 to 25.

“That really makes this kind of a unique place because we really, really get to know the kids and what helps them,” she said. “We love them a lot.”

“Even with myself being the principal, I have the joy to be able to get into the classrooms and really get to know all the students ... I love working with kids, so this is like the perfect fit for me,” Huffman said.

Huffman previously worked as a special education teacher at Lighted Way, a therapeutic day school in LaSalle. She then moved into administration, becoming a special education coordinator at the Bureau-Marshall-Putnam Special Education Cooperative before joining DPS.

“I have great staff here. I can’t do this without them. They’re wonderful and they’re very dedicated,” she said.

Dempsey has four teachers and four paraprofessionals, along with a secretary, a nurse and a custodian, Huffman said.

In the fall, Huffman said, they’re hoping to expand by hiring more teachers and enrolling more students. At capacity, the school could have 50 to 70 students.

The school will also be getting a playground, and updates are planned for the gym floor and ceiling, she said.

Huffman said she’s excited to get the playground installed because it’s been a challenge to run a school with kindergarten to eighth grade students without one.

“I’m excited. This is kind of a final culmination of everything,” DPS Superintendent Margo Empen said at the Dixon School Board’s April 16 meeting.

The projects total $366,765 and are being funded through an Individuals with Disabilities Education Act grant from the Illinois State Board of Education. All three projects were approved by the board at its April 16 meeting.