Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Special education leaders report expanded in-district supports, DBT training and plans for transitional program at Bell
Summary
PPS directors presented a special education budget that shifts some positions from grants into the general fund, expands consultant-teacher time and teaching-assistant coverage in elementary consultant-teacher classrooms, and proposes a transitional support pilot (TSP) at Bell Middle School to address rising social-emotional needs.
Director-level staff presented the pupil-personnel services (PPS) and special education budget at the March 12 board meeting and described program changes aimed at increasing in-district support and proactively addressing students’ social-emotional needs.
Jamie Edelman and Karen Smith said the district has increased consultant-teacher time at the elementary level from a maximum of two hours per day on IEPs to two-and-a-half hours and assigned a teaching assistant to every consultant-teacher elementary classroom. The district also held the second year of a middle-school integrated co-teaching program and extended the high-school learning-center model to the middle school.
Edelman described professional development investments: district clinicians and service providers have engaged in dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) training (mindfulness, distress tolerance, interpersonal effectiveness and emotional regulation) and are beginning to use DBT strategies in groups and classroom settings. "We're hoping that by being proactive and providing support earlier, we may prevent challenges of dysregulation from becoming bigger," Edelman said.
The PPS team proposed a pilot therapeutic/transitional support program (TSP) at Bell Middle School staffed initially with a teaching assistant trained in DBT approaches and supported by the school social worker; the space would combine social-emotional supports with academic check-ins to help students remain in district programming and, when appropriate, avoid out-of-district placements.
Budget details: salaries are the largest PPS line; the presenters said the district is moving some grant-funded positions (three-and-a-half FTE special educators and 1.5 psychologists referenced as partially funded by federal grants) into the general budget to reduce reliance on federal pass-throughs. The district receives IDEA/06/11 and 06/19 grants and Medicaid reimbursements that historically offset costs; Edelman noted Medicaid payments were delayed by state accounting issues but are being released. Out-of-district placements remain a significant cost and the district reported 29 students placed out of district in 2023–24, with preschool classifications up and potentially feeding into future elementary cohorts.
Board members asked for clarification about resource-room-to-learning-center shifts (presenters said the learning-center model increases group size but pairs larger groups with a teaching assistant to preserve specialized instruction and homework support) and about the district’s classification rates, which were described as below the state average; presenters said the district’s MTSS systems and universal screeners (NWEA) identify students earlier and allow many supports to be delivered in general education without full classification.
The PPS team asked for board support to pilot TSP at Bell and said they will return with further budget and staffing detail.
