Wachusett committee hears CPAC warning as district explores joining CAPS collaborative

At the Wachusett Regional School Committee meeting, CPAC representative Laura Ybarra urged the committee to proceed cautiously as the district considers applying to join the CAPS educational collaborative, citing student-safety concerns from a past collaborative membership and long-term financial obligations tied to capital costs.

Ybarra told the committee that CPAC is preparing to discuss the district’s potential membership at its February 3 administrative meeting and that CPAC has posted guidance from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE) for committee review. She asked the committee and administration to share detailed information publicly, including the reasons Wachusett left a previous collaborative, any site-visit and classroom-observation results, a clear accounting of capital and ongoing financial commitments, and details about safety protocols, restraint and seclusion rules, de-escalation training and compliance arrangements.

Superintendent Dr. Riley said the administration has identified CAPS as a potential partner and summarized information gathered so far. He said the district currently sends five students to CAPS programs, that CAPS serves multiple neighbouring districts, and that membership could change the district’s relationship to CAPS but would not by itself change student placements. Riley described the near-term timetable if the district wished to join for the next fiscal year: the school committee would likely need to vote at the committee’s February meeting so CAPS could complete its acceptance process and meet DESE requirements before the April deadline. He also said that CAPS membership carries obligations, including attendance by a district representative at roughly six to eight CAPS board meetings annually and potential capital cost responsibilities for member districts when the collaborative owns facilities.

Riley provided a preliminary financial estimate: CAPS membership would require an annual membership fee of about $26,700 (calculated by CAPS as a per‑student district fee), with enrollment discounts for any current Wachusett students at CAPS that CAPS estimates would reduce costs elsewhere; administration’s current estimate of the net fiscal impact for the next fiscal year is approximately a $57,000 benefit, after accounting for discounts and the membership fee. Riley stressed these are preliminary figures and that savings depend on how many students attend programs year to year.

Committee members and CPAC requested additional information before any vote: the specific factors that led Wachusett to leave its prior collaborative, documentation of CAPS safety and behavioral protocols and staff training, results of any site visits or program observations, the full fiscal method CAPS uses to compute member fees and capital cost obligations, the process for monitoring student outcomes within collaborative programs, and clarification of which district staff would take on the additional oversight and reporting responsibilities.

CPAC recommended inviting a DESE representative to the February committee meeting so the state agency could answer technical questions about collaborative governance and timelines. Administration said it would gather the additional materials and meet again with CPAC after CPAC’s January general membership meeting; no formal vote to join CAPS was taken at the meeting.