Principal outlines special education caseload; board adopts Character Strong "Purposeful People" SEL curriculum
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Summary
Mr. Q presented special-education staffing and service-hour data, and the board unanimously approved adopting the SAU-recommended Character Strong "Purposeful People" tier-1 social-emotional learning curriculum at an annual cost staff cited as $3,400.
Mr. Q (principal) presented the school's special education staffing, service hours and caseloads. He said the school currently has speech services, occupational therapy (0.8 FTE allocation noted as weekly coverage), a full-time school psychologist, a contracted BCBA, and an SLPA starting immediately to recover missed services. Mr. Q reported that 59 students of the school's total enrollment (including pre-K) were on IEPs at the time of reporting, which he described as roughly 20% of total enrollment; he said that number will drop after fifth graders move to CMS next year.
Mr. Q described referral and intervention practices, noting the district tries multiple interventions before making special education referrals and also discharges students who meet their goals.
Chris (staff) and Mr. Q introduced a proposed change in tier-1 SEL curriculum. The district piloted Character Strong's Purposeful People in multiple SAU elementary schools; staff described the platform and materials (lessons, family resources, schoolwide supports) and contrasted its cost — staff said the annual expense for the district would be about $3,400 — with the prior vendor whose subscription had cost roughly $22,000.
Board members discussed implementation supports and alignment with the district care/work-study (CARES) language and asked whether the platform has administrative dashboards or exit-ticket assessments. Staff said they had not fully explored the full licensed platform but expected implementation supports and that other SAU schools have been using Purposeful People for up to two years. A motion to adopt Character Strong's Purposeful People curriculum was made, seconded and approved by unanimous voice vote.
Staff said they will plan rollout and explore training options (staff noted a vendor-offered two-hour online training priced at about $2,000 but did not at the meeting commit district funds for that extra module) and leverage experience from other SAU schools during implementation.
