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Weston officials defend Pathways program, say in-district mental-health staffing prevents costly outplacements
Summary
School officials told the Board of Education that mental-health staffing has stayed flat while student need has risen, and they defended the Pathways program as both educationally necessary and cost-effective compared with out-of-district placements.
The Weston Board of Education heard a detailed overview Jan. 27 of how mental-health staff are deployed across the district and why administrators say the Pathways program is necessary to keep students in-district.
Administrators said the district has seen rising demand for special-education and accommodation services even as total enrollment declined, and that mental-health staffing has not increased to match need. “Our staffing in the area of mental health support has actually remained flat,” said Dr. Tracy Edwards, who led the presentation on staffing and services.
School leaders told the board this matters because students in the Pathways program — a “school within a school” at Weston High School for students with complex internalizing social-emotional challenges — can remain in Weston instead of being placed out of district in therapeutic day programs…
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