In unexpected news, the Open Door School will be open for another year.
The announcement came on Friday and is good news for the students after the 2.5 mill continuing funding levy for the Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities programs failed in the November general election, with 54.19 percent of voters against it and 45.81 percent voting for it.
“I am very, very happy. This is great news for the school,” said Julie Monroe, superintendent for Lawrence County Developmental Disabilities. “We have been working with the school districts and the Lawrence County Educational Service Center to come up with this plan and agreements.”
She said she worked with Lawrence County ESC superintendent Eric Floyd to keep the school open for another year.
“He is the one that reached out to me after the levy failed and said ‘Let’s meet and try to figure something out to make this as easy as possible for the kids and their families,” Monroe said. “So, he is the one that has worked with the school districts and their legal teams and put something together. And then I met with the districts as well, and we are all on the same page. At the end of the day, we just want what is best for the kids.”
Monroe said that a lot of people think that the Open Door School is the only thing that Lawrence County DD does.
“I am not downplaying the school, but we are still in dire need of funding,” Monroe said. “But the school stepped up for the kids and that is good.”
While this keeps the school open, other Lawrence County DD programs will be ending.
“Our programs are confusing for people to understand because we serve people from birth to death,” Monroe said, adding that the school is the smallest program, serving 56 of over 600 clients. “This does not fix our whole problem, definitely, but it does helps the school for sure to have a more planned transition. I want to be clear is our biggest program is our labor program that helps people live in the community with support. We won’t have money to pay that bill in 2027.”
She said all of the Lawrence County DD savings will be exhausted in 2026 “so we are still freezing those services.”
Those programs include early intervention, helping clients with employment, family support, service and support administration, adult day services, transportation and help with a variety of programs that assist with therapy, Medicaid and more.
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