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Student services reports implementation of IEP 2, reduced out-of-district placements and early-childhood enrollment gains
Summary
Director of student services Sherry Stevens and early childhood director Michelle Palermo updated the committee on special education enrollment, IEP 2 implementation, therapeutic programming that brought some students back from out-of-district placements, and a fully inclusive preschool serving roughly 160 children across eight classrooms.
Dr. Sherry Stevens, leading student services, briefed the School Committee on special education data, program development and challenges, and Michelle Palermo presented a program update on the district's early childhood center.
Stevens said the district currently has 626 students on individualized education programs (IEPs), representing 16.3% of enrollment, compared with the state special education rate of about 20.6%. She reported implementation this year of the state's IEP 2 guidance, a substantial revision the district's staff prepared for and rolled out, and said therapeutic programming K'12 has been developed to support students with social-emotional needs and has enabled the district to bring some students back from out-of-district placements.
Stevens told the committee the district has reduced its out-of-district placements but has seen increases in tuition charges for programs run elsewhere and rising transportation costs. She also reported a significant increase in students experiencing homelessness this year and said staff were working with the families to stabilize placements and services.
Palermo described the early childhood center as a full-inclusion program with co-teaching in every preschool classroom. For the 2024'25 school year the program ran eight classrooms serving about 160 students: six full-day rooms and two rooms that ran morning and afternoon sessions. Palermo said the center processed approximately 60 referrals for evaluation so far this cycle and had another 12 children scheduled for evaluation before September, and that the program typically receives 70'90 referrals annually from early intervention and community providers.
Palermo highlighted family-engagement work (movie night, multicultural game night and a covered workshop on setting limits and boundaries), onboarding materials for paraprofessionals and substitutes, and alignment efforts with kindergarten teachers to smooth transitions; she said enrollment for next year is full, with 90 applicants for 87 available preschool openings.
Committee members asked for clarifications about building-level distributions of students on IEPs, whether the IEP 2 rollout changes eligibility (Stevens said it does not change eligibility but lengthens and reorganizes documentation), and whether the district will pursue additional in-district programs as out-of-district costs rise (Stevens said the therapeutic program development is intended to reduce reliance on external placements and that programmatic expansion is an on-going discussion). Stevens also thanked staff and noted this was one of her last meetings before retirement.
Palermo invited committee members to visit the early childhood center and noted ongoing curriculum enhancements, professional development on play-based instruction, and collaborative work across speech, OT and PT staff on co-treated groups.
