Lake Agassiz Education Cooperative

The **Lake Agassiz Special Education Cooperative (LASEC)** is a regional educational service agency based in Hawley, Minnesota. Unlike a traditional K-12 school building with a standard curriculum, the Cooperative functions as a centralized administrative and support hub designed to provide specialized resources, itinerant staff, and therapeutic services to a consortium of member school districts across the region. Its primary mission is to ensure that students with disabilities receive the individualized support, evaluations, and specialized instruction mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), while helping local districts remain compliant with state and federal special education regulations.

Because it serves as a cooperative, the organization acts as a bridge between home districts and high-level educational expertise. It provides a wide array of professional services, including school psychology, speech-language pathology, occupational and physical therapy, and developmental intervention, which individual small districts might struggle to staff independently. By pooling resources, the Lake Agassiz Special Education Cooperative allows member schools to offer a more robust support system for students with diverse learning needs, ensuring that inclusive, high-quality programming is accessible to children throughout the local Minnesota school community.