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North Kingstown reports strong outcomes from ESY; high school earns Special Olympics honor
Summary
District staff reported higher-than-usual participation and several program developments from this summer's Extended School Year (ESY), including job-coach training, curriculum adoption for Compass classrooms, three summer graduations, and national recognition for North Kingstown High School from Special Olympics.
Dr. Rachel Santo, North Kingstown director of student services, said the district's Extended School Year program drew substantial participation this summer: "We had a 147 students who were referred. 121 students attended." She told the CLAC meeting attendees on the ESY tally for preschool through eighth grade and summarized high-school supports separately.
The results matter to families and teachers because ESY provides summer instruction and related services to students with disabilities who meet eligibility. "It was the best ESY year in 26 years that I've been doing ESY," Dr. Santo said, adding staff reported observable student growth and that three students completed graduation requirements over the summer.
District staff described several programmatic supports that ran alongside ESY. Dr. Santo said the district continued using the TeachTown Encore curriculum in Compass classrooms and planned a teacher professional learning group to share materials. She also reported expanded job-coach training at the high school: "my goal was to have pretty much every TA in the grama, in the programs at the high school to also be job coach trained." Staff said the job-coach training was sponsored by the Office of Rehabilitation Services (ORS) and the state education agency and that additional staff completed the training for no cost to the district.
The district also highlighted a recognition for North Kingstown High School: "North Kingstown High School is being recognized nationally as a unifying champion school for Special Olympics," Dr. Santo said, noting the high school earned a banner and that the district's next goal is a banner designation for every school in the district.
Dr. Santo described a small entrepreneurship pilot run in partnership with ORS and a group called "1 Solution," beginning at Davisville Academy and planned to expand into high-school programs: the program helps students develop ideas into small businesses and is provided to the district at no cost. She also noted continued delivery of related services like occupational therapy and speech during ESY.
No formal motions or votes were taken. Staff said they will provide additional updates to CLAC and the school committee in future meetings about curriculum, staffing and program expansion.
