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Grafton outlines ESY plan for July 8'Aug. 7; integrated preschool peers paused
Summary
District special education staff described the Extended School Year program schedule, services and staffing plans, and said preschool integrated peer slots will not be offered this summer because of low community peer sign-ups.
Nicole McDonald and Melissa Johnson, district special education leaders, briefed the School Committee on April 8 about Grafton's 2025 Extended School Year (ESY) program. They said ESY will run five weeks from Tuesday, July 8, through Thursday, Aug. 7, and will be held at Grafton High School.
Speakers said ESY programming will emphasize "time on learning" and include preschool programming, the GAIN program, related services (speech, occupational therapy, physical therapy, vision services) and music therapy for students who access it. The district will provide a K'through'11 tutorial program for additional ELA and math support; presenters clarified that twelfth graders either graduate or participate through other summer pathways such as GAIN.
Johnson reviewed last year's ESY figures and staffing: she said 68 students attended in 2024, 44 of whom received daily reading tutorials; there were 12 walk-in therapy-only students, 10 community peers in integrated preschool, and the program hired 101 staff members. For 2025 Johnson said the district plans to hire roughly 85'to'90 staff members and reported that reading instruction will be daily for students receiving reading support. She also said preschool enrollment and programming are being reassessed and that the district will not run community-peer integrated preschool classes this summer because the program did not have enough typically developing community peers to form multiple integrated classrooms.
Committee members raised concerns about scheduling and how families who are waiting on ESY placement decisions can plan for enrichment registrations. McDonald and Johnson said final staffing was just completed and that the district will email families after April vacation with session assignments, a Google form to confirm attendance and transportation needs, and other logistics.
Speakers emphasized the district's intent to prioritize inclusion when appropriate but said decisions about full- or half-day placements are made according to individual IEP team recommendations and student needs.
Why it matters: ESY provides special-education services required by some students' individualized education programs; changes in program structure and capacity affect families' summer plans and the district's staffing and facility use.
Ending: District staff said they will send timelines and placement information to ESY families shortly after April vacation and will report back to the committee after the summer with an evaluation of program outcomes.
