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Springfield Township SD expands Extended School Year offerings, adds emotional‑support and lead teacher roles
Summary
District staff presented an expanded ESY (extended school year) plan for summer 2025 that adds a half‑day emotional support program, a lead teacher position for program oversight, split locations because of construction, and continued nursing and meal services; staff said incremental cost will be covered with existing access dollars.
Springfield Township School District administrators presented the committee with the district’s planned Extended School Year (ESY) services for summer 2025, describing expanded emotional‑support offerings, temporary split sites because of construction and administrative staffing adjustments.
Dr. Dennis and Ms. Shrage told the committee that ESY is provided to students eligible under special education rules when those students demonstrate a history of regression or need continued instruction to master skills. The district described a continuum of ESY options ranging from a full‑day district program for low‑incidence students (9 a.m.–2 p.m.) through itinerant and related‑services models. For 2025 the district is adding a half‑day emotional support program to better meet students with behavioral goals and expanding itinerant emotional‑support services into supplemental offerings.
Staff said 2025 ESY will operate out of two buildings this year because of middle‑school construction: elementary programming will be held at Erdenheim and secondary programming at the high school. The district said nursing support will be present in each building and that lunch meals — provided by the district contractor — will be available to ESY students free of charge.
To support program operations while campuses are split, staff proposed adding a lead teacher (initially two positions this summer because of the split sites) who will focus on day‑to‑day program oversight, paraprofessional deployment and progress‑monitoring systems; the district described part of the cost as covered by converting an anticipated itinerant position. Committee members asked whether the added staff cost had been budgeted; staff said the unbudgeted excess is roughly $13,000 and that the district will use access dollars and related services funding to cover that amount.
Dr. Dennis said the district has expanded the ESY program in response to growing numbers of students with behavioral goals and increased in‑district services after the closure of an out‑of‑district placement (Carson Valley). Staff emphasized that ESY programming will mirror academic‑year goals and include community‑based instruction, related service providers and progress monitoring.
The committee discussed safety and emergency coverage because sites are split. Staff said they had worked with nursing and special education teams to review each student’s needs and were confident there would be appropriate coverage.
The committee had no objection to the plan; staff will present ESY details to the board as required by district procedures.
