Changing The Face Of Special Education
Changing The Face Of Special Education
By Larissa Lytwyn
During his December 2 presentation to the school board on the 2002â03 special education profiles, Pupil Personnel Services Director Michael Regan detailed a changing âapproachâ to special education.
âWe are seeking to have [special education services] viewed from being a âplaceâ to being viewed as a continuum of services within the home [or public] school system,â he said.
Since taking the retiring Robert Chiappettaâs place last July, Dr Regan told board members that he is currently working to hire a special education supervisor.
âWe are currently serving 523 special education students, and that number is growing very rapidly,â said Dr Regan, âbecause Newtown is growing.â
Special education students live with a wide range of issues, from learning disabilities to severe autism.
The role of the new supervisor would include drawing out-placed students, whose conditions tend to require more intensive care, back into the district.
During the 2002â03 school year, the town spent $1,622,512 on 39 out-placement students; more than $6 million is spent on special education services as a whole.
Returning out-placed students to the district would not only save costs but also increase the range of services in-town, drawing potentially new special education services to Newtown, said Dr Regan.
âHiring a supervisor would also increase [our departmentâs] visibility at state operated Planning and Placement Team [PPT] meetings,â Dr Regan noted, particularly as movements continue to provide increased services within the Newtown public schools system.
Dr Regan has already drawn three students back into Newtown Schools.
He is a great proponent of the increasingly popularized movement to include special education students in âregularâ classroom settings because of studiesâ indication that interaction between special needs students and their peers incur social and academic benefits to both groups.
For more information, visit www.state.ct.us/sde/deps/special/ or contact Pupil Personnel Services at 426-7626.