LAKE ORION, Mich. – A special needs program that serves students across Oakland County will end after the 2024-25 school year.
Parents said they received no warning the program would shut down.
Nancy Halter-Austin’s son Bryson has epilepsy and autism. She moved her family closer to Lake Orion last year so Bryson could attend a specialized program at Pine Tree Center.
“His previous school couldn’t handle his needs and we kind of feel like we uprooted our family for nothing right now,” Halter-Austin said.
For eight years, about 40 children with special needs from across Oakland County have come to Pine Tree Center in Lake Orion. Its Autism Spectrum Disorder and Emotional Impairment program …is a partnership between the district and Oakland County.
Without warning, Halter-Austin received an email telling her the program would not be offered next school year.
“I have emailed the state, the county, the district for more info, no one is responding,” Halter-Austin said. “I really hope they reconsider what they’re doing to these kids, they deserve better.”
At a school board meeting Wednesday, Jan. 8, Lake Orion Community Schools moved to end the program. They said Pine Tree Center needs to be renovated to better service students with significant disabilities which would cost millions of dollars.
While the district said it would work with individual student resident districts to plan for the upcoming school year, Halter-Austin said Bryson will be left behind.
“These kids need something and this is what that school is here for in Oakland County,” Halter-Austin said. “It has been set up to educate these kids, they deserve that and discontinuing that program leaves them out in the cold.”