Forsyth County student services outlines federal-program funding and special-education growth

Sarah Taylor, director of Student Services, told the Forsyth County Schools board on March 11 that her department’s work centers on district Goal 2 (the learner experience) and described how federal programs and special-education services are deployed to support students.

Taylor said the district uses Georgia’s consolidated application and a comprehensive needs-assessment (CNA) process to develop the Consolidated LEA Improvement Plan (CLIP) that directs federal funding for Title I, Title II-A, Title III, Title IV-A, the McKinney-Vento/neglected and delinquent supports, and IDEA. “At the center of our work, of course, is how we support the whole child in our district,” Taylor said.

Why it matters: Taylor and colleagues presented data showing the district’s demographic and program pressures. At the October FTE count about 21% of students qualified for free or reduced-price lunch and the English-learner population has grown 103% in 10 years. Taylor said federal programs currently provide supplemental tutoring services to approximately 386 of the district’s most academically at-risk students (homeless, foster, neglected, migrant and EL students).

Special education details: Kara Hudspeth, who led the special-education portion of the presentation, said the district serves just over 7,000 students with disabilities, a roughly 38.7% increase in special-education enrollment since 2014. Hudspeth said about 77% of students with disabilities are served in their home schools (what the district calls the interrelated program). She reported 232 specialized-instruction classes across the district (80 using accommodated curriculum and 152 using a modified curriculum) and noted the district supports transition-age programs (Project Life Rise) for students aged 18–22 focused on job skills.

Hudspeth said the department conducts about 980 IEP meetings this year, monitors approximately 2,900 Section 504 plans, and provides professional learning and two new retention-oriented programs for educators: the “TRIBE” program for early-career special-education teachers (90 participants this year) and a veteran-teacher academy intended to retain experienced special educators.

Behavior and interventions: Taylor and Hudspeth described the district's MTSS (Georgia Multi-Tiered System of Supports) framework and said tiers 2 and 3 provide targeted interventions. The district is in its second year of EduCLIMBER implementation, a platform to monitor student interventions and progress. Hudspeth said the Compass program (previously operated through an external provider, GNETS/Pioneer RESA) was brought in-house to provide continuity of behavior supports and smoother transitions back to base schools.

Board questions and next steps: Trustees asked about the distribution of behavior coaches (the district has a team of four behavior coaches deployed weekly across schools), intervention decision metrics (the district uses universal screeners such as i-Ready, supplemented by diagnostic tools), and access to district interventions. Staff said not all schools have a school-based behavior coach; the department deploys personnel where need is greatest.

Ending: Board members praised the student-services staff for retention and family engagement work and asked for continued updates on intervention outcomes and program capacity.