About Us

1960’s

• First .75 Special Education mills approved – 1960
• ISDs formed – 1962
• First site in downtown St. Johns on Maple Street – Late 60’s

1970’s

• Built first section of current Educational Center, started with one portable (Walter Kyes) – 1972
• Additional .75 mills approved for total of 1.5 – 1972
• Shared Time Program started including auto mechanics, building trades, cosmetology, food service, and health – began in 1978 – closed majority of programs in 1992
• Built on addition of South Wing classroom space on current Educational Center – 1979

1980’s

• Took down Walter Kyes Portable and completed building existing Educational Center

1990’s

• Became a Regional Educational Service Agency – 1994-95
• Passed Special Education Additional Millage of 1.125 mills – 1996

2000’s

• Total Special Education mills 2.535 – 2000
• Began Career Education Classes - 2000 
• Established the Office of Innovative Projects - 2001
• Passed a Vocational Education Millage 1.0 – 2002
• Moved Administration Offices to Southpoint Mall location in St. Johns which included a state-of-the-art Conference Facility – 2002
• Formed Partnership with LCC - 2002
• Passed a Special Education Headly Override Millage – 2005
• Current Special Education Millage 2.3857
• Current General Fund Allocated Millage .1981
• Implemented combined Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency and Shiawassee Regional Education Service District (RESD) Instructional Services Departments – 2007
• Entered into shared Superintendent Agreement with Shiawassee RESD, John E. Hagel named dual Superintendent - January 2009

2010's

• June 2012, John E. Hagel retires as Superintendent
• July 2012, the CCRESA Board of Education named Dr. Wayne Petroelje Interim Superintendent
• November 2012, the CCRESA Board of Education named Dr. Wayne Petroelje Permanent Superintendent through June 30, 2014, which has subsequently been extended until June 30, 2023.

2020's

• July 2023, the CCRESA Board of Education named Dr. Scott Koenigsknecht as Superintendent
• February 2024, CCRESA partners with Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB) on a 3-5 year Strategic Planning process.
• March 2024, the www.ccresa.org website was redesigned with enhanced functionality for an optimized user experience.

• Clinton County has safe communities, great schools and caring people!
• Clinton County is located in the south-central part of the Lower Peninsula.  The county contains 574 square miles/367,360 acres and is the 25th largest in the state.
• The county seat is located in St. Johns.  The top three economic sectors are educational services, health care and social assistance at 25.3%, manufacturing 15%, and retail 13.2%.  Clinton County land use is largely agricultural with 271,558 acres of the land in farms.  Land in farm use includes 84.4% in croplands, 8.9% woodlands, and 7.2% in other.  
• Recreation activities include fishing, boating, hunting, and many others.
• The population is approximately 76,739.
• Community Highlights include:  Sleepy Hollow State Park, Motz Park, the Elsie Dairy Festival, the St. John’s Mint Festival, Bath Community Days, DeWitt Ox Roast, Annual Community Picnics in Fowler, Pewamo, and Westphalia, the Maple River Wetland Restoration Area, and the Muskrat Lake State Game Area.

CCRESA District Boundaries Map

For many years Regional Educational Service Agencies (RESAs) were known as Intermediate School Districts (ISDs).  In 1962 the Michigan Legislature created ISDs to bring about quality and equitable educational opportunities to schools and students throughout Michigan.  Clinton County ISD was created in 1962 and was located on Maple Street in downtown St. Johns.  Many changes have happened since then. 

In 1972 Clinton County ISD moved to the current site of the Clinton County Educational Center on U. S. 27 in St. Johns.  The site consisted of a portable building (Walter Kyes).  In 1988 the portable was removed and the basic structure of the existing Educational Center facility was built.  During the 1994-95 school year the name was changed to Clinton County Regional Educational Service Agency (CCRESA).   With that name change came broader outreach into the community and increased services to local public school districts and non-public schools.  There are now 57 ISDs/RESAs and Regional Educational Service Districts (RESDs) across the state of Michigan.  In 2002 CCRESA moved its administrative offices including a new conference center to the SouthPoint Mall in St. Johns and shared space with Lansing Community College and the Chamber of Commerce.

Over the years, the unique roles of ISDs have adapted to include the realities of increased calls of educational accountability and choice.  For example, ISDs are helping member districts understand, comply, and implement the standards required of the complex federal No Child Left Behind law and state accreditation system.  Currently CCRESA provides technical assistance to schools in the arena of data review, teaching and learning and overall school improvement.

ISDs/RESAs/RESDs accomplish their mission in many ways.  Some are noted below, namely by:

• Creating and promoting economies of scale.  Examples would include special education services for the entire county, a substitute teacher system operated by CCRESA and used by many constituent districts, vocational education coursework in conjunction with local districts and Lansing Community College, shared professional development across local districts and non-public schools and with other ISDs.
• Sharing current and credible research, best practices, and innovation.  Examples would include conferences sponsored by CCRESA opened to others to attend, development of lesson plans shared across districts, assistive technology research, and learning library information.
• Providing oversight and liaison roles.  Examples would include special education monitoring, review of annual reports and school improvement plans, gifted and talented work plans, pupil accounting, truancy assistance, etc.
• Building and sustaining local partnerships and sharing credible research into the importance of early childhood care and education.  Examples would include Early On® Michigan serving children birth to three with special needs and their families, early childhood playgroups and home visiting through Great Parents/Great Start.
• By working with workforce development boards, business and industry, ISDs help promote growing economics and stable communities.  Examples would include tri-county public relations work called Keep Learning...Our Future Depends On It focusing on increasing the number of college graduates in our area, the Career Preparation Program School Interview Days, and the Renaissance Program with local businesses supporting work with area students.
• By working with the Michigan Department of Education (MDE) to share information, resources on new policy legislation and programs.  CCRESA manages several statewide projects for the MDE.  Examples are Early On® Training and Technical Assistance and Public Awareness, the Early On Center for HIgher Education, and Special Education Project Find.

Business Office services, Career Preparation, Innovative Projects, Educational Services, Technology Department, and Special Education all work with local partners to utilize resources in a non-duplicative fashion to maximize the scale of effort and services that can be accessed by families.

Clinton County Regional Educational Service Area provides:

Direct Services to Local Education Agencies:

• LEA Staff
• Students
• Parents

Constituent Public Schools Include:

• Bath Community Schools
• DeWitt Public Schools
• Fowler Public Schools
• Ovid-Elsie Area Schools
• Pewamo-Westphalia Community Schools
• St. Johns Public Schools

Non-Public Schools Include:

• Most Holy Trinity School, Fowler
• St. Joseph School, Pewamo
• St. Joseph School, St. Johns
• St. Mary’s School, Westphalia
• St. Peter Lutheran School, St. Johns

Direct Services to Non-Local Education Agency Customers:

• Other ISD/RESA’s
• Local Service Agencies (Local Public Health, Mental Health, Human Services, Family Resource Center, etc.)
• Employers

Statewide Services on Behalf of the Michigan Department of Education

• Early On® Training and Technical Assistance and Public Awareness
• Special Education Project Find
• Great Start Readiness Program

Indirect Customers:

(Individuals/organizations that don’t directly consume our services, but whose quality requirements we need to meet to be successful)

• Michigan Department of Education
• Local Colleges and Universities
• Taxpayers
• Board of Education

Internal Customers:

• Students
• CCRESA Staff

Relationships:

• CCRESA has established good working relationships with business, industry, and government in Clinton County, our tri-county region, and statewide; which enhances our educational goals for programs and services.

RESAs are the best kept secrets in communities.  The work of RESAs is completed in a supportive, helpful, quiet fashion that results in:

• Saving taxpayer dollars by creating an economy of scale for major education investment in career/technical programming, talent development, special education programming, curriculum development and professional development for all public and non-public school staff members.
• Providing local districts valuable resources, enabling more dollars to flow into classrooms instead of other activities.
• Competent monitoring and oversight of educational services as required by law, thus protecting children and families.
• Helping individual school districts meet an ever-growing number of accountability requirements and governmental mandates such as No Child Left Behind and High School Redesign-AYP.
• Providing a collaborative structure that affords a regional response to career training/workforce development and business office needs.
• Providing a single point of entry for organizations and government agencies working with students and school districts.
• Serving as a liaison among all schools in a region, making it possible to coordinate everything from Curriculum Councils to emergency response management coordination.
• Providing structures for districts to share best practices for improving student achievement.