Bluebonnet Trails Set to Close Its Schulenburg Enrichment Center
Bluebonnet Trails Community Services will stop offering services for special needs adults at its Schulenburg Enrichment Center on Oct. 31. Bluebonnet Trails has leased the property on Bucek St. from the Fayette County Commission for Intellectual Disabilities (FCCID, formerly known as Fayette County MHMR) for 25 years. The enrichment center and workshop provide daytime activities for adults with intellectual disabilities. The Center also provided employment for clients through a business, Henry Dittrich Enterprises, that produced plastic-ware “picnic packs” that come with fundraiser meals.
Over the years, the Schulenburg Center has served an average of 21-35 clients, according to Andrea Richardson, executive director of Bluebonnet Trails. That number has dropped to nine this year, Richardson said. Richardson said increased regulations and the costs associated forced the decision.
“This has been a difficult decision to make,” said Richardson. “We lift up and work alongside the nine families we serve in Schulenburg making difficult decisions for their loved ones. We respect the Fayette County Commission for Intellectual Disabilities (FCCID) recognizing we are at a crossroads of sustaining a quality program while considering the cost to adhere to the new rules. We are also grateful for the many years of partnership with the FCCID allowing us to lease the lovely location for our participants and families.”
That’s a tough pill to swallow for FCCID, which has been serving the special needs community in Schulenburg for more than 40 years.
“Money was raised way back then to start this board and make sure our local people have services,” said Pastor Lemae Higgs of Swiss Alp Lutheran Church, who serves as president of FCCID. “That way, when the clients’ parents are no longer able to keep them at home, they can at least stay in the community and still know their friends and family. It’s always been about serving our own.”
In addition to the enrichment center, FCCID also owns two group homes in Schulenburg that serve 14 clients who require residential services. FCCID leases the group homes to the La Grange-based service provider Kenmar Residential Services, Inc., which oversees and cares for the clients who live there.
Richardson said Bluebonnet Trails will offer the affected families transition to a daytime program provider in La Grange. She told the Record that Bluebonnet Trails would provide transport to the La Grange provider. Richardson did not name the provider, although officials from FCCID said the provider would be Kenmar.
Higgs’ daughter is one of the nine clients affected by the Bluebonnet Trails decision. Higgs described the fear that many parents of special needs children face as they get older: “What if your mom is 95 and she can’t take care of you anymore and you need to go in a group home? If it’s an outside company far away, they might say, ‘Sure, we’ll take you in a group home, but it’s in Gonzales.’ That has not happened yet, but it’s something that’s always on our mind. We want our local people to be served locally, so that they would not be uprooted due to family circumstances and removed from their friends and everything they know.”
The group homes in Schulenburg house eight men and six women, and they will remain open. But Higgs said the closure of the enrichment center will disrupt their lives as well, since the group home residents also utilize the center for services. Higgs said the Schulenburg Enrichment Center currently serves a total of 23 clients, not just the nine who live with family members.
Higgs said she fears the change will break up the closeknit community of special needs adults who spend their days together at the Schulenburg Enrichment Center.
“These are friends who went to high school with each other, and they’re still friends,” Higgs said. “They manage to have a great life and fun activities. They go to the movies. They go bowling together. Every year they get their own private bus and go to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo where they get front row seats for the music. It’s such a rich part of their social life that would be very hard-pressed to duplicate in other ways.” Higgs said the future of the Schulenburg Enrichment Center came into question in recent years when the FCCID board learned about some concerns regarding federal labor law and the clients who worked for the picnic pack business. “We seemed to have run afoul with some federal regulations that say you have to pay people minimum wage,” Higgs said. “That’s a tough situation for a lot of our people. You can’t afford to pay them minimum wage and yet they still want to have jobs they feel good about. We were worried about what to do about it when COVID hit, and that changed everything.” The workshop closed. Bluebonnet Trails greatly limited the clients’ social activities. Higgs said FCCID normally budgeted $20,000 to $30,000 for trips and other social activities. All of that stopped during the pandemic, she said. “We were looking forward to things opening back up and restrictions going down so that we could get back to more activities for people at the enrichment center,” Higgs said. “So this really blindsided us.”
Richardson notified the board about their decision on July 19. At that time, Bluebonnet Trails planned to pull out of the Center by August 31. Higgs said Schulenburg Police Chief Troy Brenek, who serves as Vice President of FCCID, convinced Richardson to give the clients and their families at least 90 days to make arrangements for the change. Bluebonnet Trails now plans to close the Center on Oct. 31. Richardson said funding for Bluebonnet Trails day program comes from the Texas Health and Human Services Commission through a performance contract, and it’s also supported by Medicaid reimbursement for qualifying services delivered.
“As a steward of the state and federal taxpayer dollars paying for these services, Bluebonnet Trails (alongside all contracted providers) adheres to stringent rules and guidelines to be reimbursed for services conducted at a day habilitation program,” Richardson said. “Over the years, program rules and contract requirements have changed. During 2021, the state began considering new rules redefining program requirements. The new rules for providers of skills and socialization in day programs require licensure at each physical location. “To be licensed and in compliance with the new rules, we would need to renovate the Schulenburg building,” Richardson added. “In addition, we would need to increase our staffing ratio as the new rules allow for fewer site-based services – requiring more services in the community. Each of these rule requirements increases the cost to deliver the service without a corresponding increased rate to reimburse the services.” Bluebonnet Trails notified the affected families about the Schulenburg closure in a letter sent on Aug. 1. “We recognize the importance of this service to your family and wanted you to know that we will be helping you in the process as you make decisions about a new day habilitation program of your choice or a community support service, if preferred,” the letter said. “Within the next month, we will be providing you information about a new day habilitation program located in La Grange, if interested.”
The letter went on to say that Bluebonnet Trails would schedule tours of the La Grange facility for the families.
Higgs said the day program in La Grange might not work for all of the Schulenburg clients.
“They only want people who go every day, full time,” Higgs said. “A lot of our people don’t do that because they go to other enrichment programs. For example, Higgs said her daughter goes to the workshop two or three days a week. On other days, she attends a program offered by the Lutheran
Church. “Why not have Kenmar come here?” Higgs proposed. “We have the facilities. We would lease that building to them for little or nothing. It’s already set up. I think that would be ideal if we can manage to get that going.” Higgs said she doesn’t know what will happen to the Schulenburg facility once Bluebonnet Trails leaves at the end of October.
“My fear is that Bluebonnet Trails has become like every government bureaucracy,” Higgs said. “They figure out ways to skim off the top. They go into big office buildings and have big salaries for the top executives. But the money is not providing the direct services.” Higgs said she also worried about the four Bluebonnet Trails employees who work at the Schulenburg Enrichment Center.
“I’ve been told that they were guaranteed jobs, but where will those jobs be?” Higgs asked.
The FCCID board will meet with Richardson this Wednesday to discuss the transition process and the future of their organization.
“This board has been able to do so much over the years because we have been wonderfully funded by private donations, fundraisers, and the County gives us some money,” Higgs said. “There has been tremendous community involvement over the years and I hate to see all that swept under the rug and lost.”