The Board of Education heard a report on special education practices and procedures from consultants at its meeting on December 18: The report recommends further district-level reviews.

Also at the meeting, the school board approved extending the district’s transportation contract with EdAdvance, November’s financial report, and new policies, including a policy on class size. To read more about those topics, see the related story in the December 21 print edition of the paper.

The special education consultants’ recommendations include further district review in areas of Individual Education Plan (IEP) identification and implementation; current practices and the distribution of information to parents; professional development; staffing levels, staff utilization, and work loads; and developing district-wide policies, procedures, and practices around planning, leading, and participating in Planning and Placement Team (PPT) meetings.

Consultants Gail Mangs and Maria Synodi were hired to conduct the special education review following parent complaints. At its September 18 meeting, the school board approved the proposal for the special education self-study. The proposal outlined that parent forums and a district personnel forum would be held; a survey would be conducted; supervisory personnel would be interviewed; and the consultants would compile the data and information from the findings, prepare a report for the school board, identify issues, and provide recommendations. According to the proposal, the special education review cost $10,500.

Superintendent of Schools Dr Lorrie Rodrigue said at the December 18 meeting that the consultants spoke with parents, staff, and administrations from across the district.

Ms Synodi expressed gratitude to parents for sharing information.

“Everyone felt, I think, safe and secure that [Ms Mangs] and I would hold their information confidential. What was critical for us was not the names or the schools or the individuals, but really the stories they related and the themes that arose from those stories,” said Ms Synodi.

From the end of October to the end of November, according to Ms Synodi, the consultants collected information. They also said they made themselves available through e-mail and over the phone for conversations with parents and district staff.

According to the presentation, 37 parents and 111 staff participated in the forums, and 155 parents and 361 staff responded to the online surveys. In total, there were 1,795 comments, 563 of those comments were made by parents and 1,232 comments were made by staff. Ms Mangs noted at the meeting that many parents did not participate in the forums or surveys, and she said that could mean they are satisfied.

Ms Mangs said statements shared about Newtown’s hardworking, caring, and invested instructional staff were “overwhelming.”

“In addition to the issues that were raised that gave rise to our investigation, other themes kind of rose to the surface,” said Ms Mangs. Later, she added, “When we would hear something from both parents and we would hear something similar from staff, then we knew that something was going on that needed to be looked at.”

According to the report submitted to the school board, the recommendations are a result of the consultants’ review of the district’s programs and practices and the staff and parent perceptions of them.

Regarding specialized reading programs and certified staff, the report shares that since issues were first identified, the district has “taken significant action in ensuring sufficiently trained and/or certified personnel in one or more specialized reading programs.” In addition to current efforts, the report recommends the district should review the IEP of students identified as having dyslexia to ensure “that an appropriate reading program is in place for the student,” and it says the same type of review should happen for newly identified students this school year “to appropriately identify students and ensure an appropriate and timely implementation of a specialized reading program by appropriately trained and/or certified staff.”

The report notes the district “appears to be engaged in ensuring training, professional development, and certification opportunities” for staff regarding specialized reading instruction, and it recommends a continued focus on ensuring “a sufficient number” of trained/certified staff. It also said staff concerns “regarding time for collaboration and professional development should be addressed.” Ms Mangs explained there were reports of staff having large workloads, but, despite that, “they get the work done,” mostly in their own time. Other school support staff concerns were reported, including the number of occupational therapists and psychologists, according to Ms Mangs.

In response to “a perception by parents that breaches of student confidentiality are somewhat frequent and happening throughout the district,” the report recommends a review of current practices and the system for distributing information to parents. It also recommends targeted training/professional development.

Concerning professional development and training, the report recommends identifying needs annually for general and special education staff; continuing to redefine and align paraprofessional hours to incorporate and compensate paraprofessionals for their time; and working with the newly formed Special Education Parent Teacher Organization (SEPTO) to identify needs and resources to provide training to families. Ms Mangs specified there seems to be issues or confusion around how paraprofessionals are paid and whether they would be paid to attend training.

The report also recommends the district determine whether it has the appropriate number of staff, whether staff is being utilized and deployed appropriately, and whether job responsibilities are appropriate to staff skills and time. It also said the district should consider providing parent information, resources, and educational opportunities to parents on PPT meetings and the development of IEPs. It said the district should develop, “district-wide policies, procedures, and practices around planning, leading, and participating in PPT meetings to be implemented consistently throughout the district.” Practices, the report says, could include parents and staff being informed when a special education administrator will be at a PPT meeting and the “role and responsibility of that person in the PPT,” among other recommendations. Ms Mangs said there were complaints from both parents and staff around having central office staff attend PPT meetings.

“Those are the issues that kind of bubbled to the surface throughout,” said Ms Mangs.

Board of Education members asked a range of questions of the consultants and Dr Rodrigue. After school board members requested “raw data” from the forums and surveys, Dr Rodrigue explained the information will be redacted for confidentiality and provided to the board and online. With budget season looming, board Secretary Dan Cruson, Jr, said he wants to make sure the conversation is kept in the “forefront.”

Dr Rodrigue said the district will need time to collect and assess the data, and she will work with administrators to further look at the report’s recommendations.

“We’ll include it on a future agenda for further discussion,” said Board of Education Chair Michelle Embree Ku.

Speaking later during public participation, SEPTO President Jennifer Strychalsky voiced concerns that the special education report was not all-inclusive, regarding the families included in the forums and surveys.