Special-education director: 383 students have IEPs; district highlights inclusion, training needs

Special Education Director Steve Wood told the Morgan County School District Board that, as of the most recent count, the district serves 383 students with individualized education programs, roughly 12% of the district’s student population.

Wood said special education services are mandated and monitored by federal and state law and cover students ages 3 through 22 whose needs cannot be met without an IEP. “IEP services could include instruction in academics, social skills, speech, OT, PT, other related services such as deaf blind services,” he said.

Wood described the district’s staffing and contracts: 18 special-education teachers, more than 40 part‑time paraprofessionals, two district-employed speech pathologists, four part‑time contracted speech pathologists, two part‑time speech technicians and contracted PT/OT and psychologists. He said some services (for example, deaf/blind supports) are provided by USDB at no cost to the district.

The director highlighted classroom inclusion and peer-tutor programs at the high school and middle school and noted partnerships such as training offered by the Utah Parent Center that the district plans to post on its website for parent access.

Board members asked whether the district’s 12% figure includes speech-only services. Wood replied that earlier figures in some reports excluded speech-only services and that the broader 6–8% figure discussed historically did not count speech services. “That 6 to 8 was excluding the speech on the services,” Wood said.

On restrictive interventions, Wood said the district has recorded no safety interventions this year so far and that one incident is scheduled for review next week. “We do have one we’re meeting on next week. I don’t know whether it was a seclusion or not, but so far this year, we haven’t had any,” he said. He described required recordkeeping and a safety-intervention committee that reviews incidents and noted staff complete safety-care training.

Wood concluded by listing continuing needs: funding to run a full special-education program, staff development to keep pace with changing rules, and additional space at Morgan Elementary to operate services effectively.

Board members thanked staff for the work described and said they were encouraged by the inclusion programs and parent training efforts.