LIVERMORE FALLS – SAD 36 is advertising for a clinical director/social worker to develop and manage a new regional, elementary-level, day-treatment program in the district.

Instead of sending students to other towns for services, the district is trying to start a regional program at the Cedar Street Complex in Livermore Falls to keep the children local, said SAD 36 Superintendent Terry Despres.

The day-treatment program would serve students with serious special needs, such as those with autism, who have a direct relation with special education programs.

Usually the students have intensive needs that are served one on one, he said.

There are 13 school districts divided into three subgroups working to get the treatment programs going, he said.

Students from Jay, Turner, Winthrop and Readfield schools, among other places, would be included in the program to be housed at SAD 36.

Rumford is also starting a program for that area, Despres said.

Despres said his group is looking for startup during the second half of the year, after January, and expects the program to serve six or seven children.

“We are working closely with Gray/New Gloucester,” he said, which had a day-treatment program for several years.

“The main focus is on keeping the children close to home,” Despres said.

Some children are sent to New Hampshire or southern Maine for services, and school systems are responsible for those costs, including transportation, he said.

He said he previously worked in a district in northern Maine that provided a program for a student with autism for six years, and that child was considered part of the school community.

When the child attended graduation and received a certificate, the community cheered, he said.

“If done right, if done correctly, it can be a very positive experience,” Despres said.

The day-treatment program would be funded by the state and the Medicaid program, which reimburse schools directly, he said.

There is going to be training with the Gray/New Gloucester school system, he said.

The program would include an outreach program to work with parents and children, he added.

Currently SAD 36 pays $169,000 for students who need special services outside the district.

Despres anticipates the cost of providing the services in SAD 36 to be about $100,000.

Between Medicaid and the state, the district would be reimbursed 90 percent of the cost of services for each SAD 36 student who needs specialized attention, he said.

For students not in specialized programs, the district receives about 56 percent of the cost for each student.