District outlines special education trends, staffing and new supports

Cindy Malcheski, director of special education for the Middleton-Cross Plains Area School District, told the school board on Jan. 13 that the district’s special education enrollment has risen to about 11.8 percent of students and that the district is taking several steps to respond.

The presentation, given by Malcheski with coordinators Nikki Morehouse, John Amy and Kristen Benz, summarized federal eligibility rules, local placement practices and trends in disability categories. Malcheski told the board, “We want every student to feel that they belong and are valued in our school community.”

Why it matters: District leaders said the share of students identified for special education increased roughly 1 percentage point from the previous year and remains below the state average. Board members asked how staffing and program models are being adjusted so students can receive required services without disrupting general classroom instruction.

Malcheski described how the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and Department of Public Instruction eligibility rules shape individualized education program (IEP) development and placement. She said most students with IEPs are served “in the classroom all or most of the day,” sometimes through coteaching, pull-out instruction for targeted skills, or related services such as speech-language therapy. She reported district figures that showed a decline in special education counts during the COVID years followed by increases over the last two years; Malcheski cited a WISEdash public count of about 860 students last October and an internal December 1 count of roughly 872 students with disabilities.

The presentation noted that three categories—other health impairment (OHI), speech-language impairment, and autism—are the district’s largest disability areas, and that OHI has shown steady growth. Malcheski said the category can include a wide range of medical and mental-health conditions (for example, ADHD, anxiety or heart conditions) and that not all students with those diagnoses meet DPI’s criteria for specially designed instruction.

On staffing, Malcheski displayed full-time-equivalent figures for paraeducators, special education teachers, speech-language pathologists, occupational and physical therapists and special education coordinators. She said staffing levels have been “pretty consistent” year to year but noted recent additions of special-education teacher time in response to increased evaluations and caseloads.

Malcheski summarized recommendations and findings from an external WestEd evaluation. WestEd had reported inconsistent local definitions of “inclusive education,” limited collaboration and coteaching time, and increased challenging student behaviors after the pandemic. In response the district has created an internal procedural manual for special educators, added a new Intensive Support Specialist role (districtwide positions held by Liz Legler and Morgan Glasson), expanded professional learning on specially designed instruction, goal writing and coteaching, and is working with principals to define time and roles for collaboration.

Board members asked about private-school services, and Malcheski said the district currently provides speech-language services to eligible private-school students under equitable-services rules, and that other special-education staff are not sent to private schools. On miscellaneous scheduling questions, coordinators described differences across levels: elementary students are often pulled out for targeted literacy or math lessons, middle and high schools use coteaching more frequently in core courses, and paraeducator assignments are arranged by student needs.

Malcheski said the district will seek feedback on the internal procedural manual and expects to return with updates; she also said principals will continue to receive training so building leaders can support special-education work.

The board did not take formal action on program changes at the meeting; Malcheski will report back on implementation and on manual feedback in future updates.