Middletown Area SD presents special education plan for 2025–28, to submit to Pennsylvania Department of Education

Sonya Bruner, director of special education for Middletown Area School District, and Dr. Chelsey Pruznak, assistant director of special education, presented the district's Special Education Plan for 2025–2028 at the April 1 school board meeting and said the board will be asked to approve the plan so it can be submitted to the Pennsylvania Department of Education by the May 1 deadline.

The plan provides a snapshot of staffing and student counts at each building and lists out‑of‑district providers the district uses when it does not offer a program. At the time the draft was prepared the district reported 479 students receiving special education services, equal to 21.1% of the student population; presenters said that percentage is changing and the district's current internal count is slightly higher.

Brunner and Pruznak described how the district organizes services: Reid Elementary houses the district's autism supports and related staff; Fink, Kunkel and Reid elementary schools have varying numbers of learning support teachers and paraprofessionals; the middle and high schools have larger special education staffs and districtwide specialists including occupational and physical therapists, school psychologists, social workers and speech and language therapists. The presentation listed the district's current out‑of‑district partners as the Capital Area Intermediate Unit, Yellow Breeches Educational Center, River Rock, New Story, Hilltop Academy, Capitol Academy and the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf.

The plan emphasizes least restrictive environment strategies: differentiated instruction, flexible grouping, data‑driven interventions, accommodations and specially designed instruction. It also highlights schoolwide positive behavior supports, school‑based mental health staff, suicide awareness and prevention, student assistance programming and use of outside therapy providers so students can access services during the school day without leaving campus.

Brunner outlined seven goal areas the state requires, including autism supports (continuing the current PEAK/ABA approach and expanding to middle school), paraprofessional training (CPR and first aid required for medical access funding), transition planning for post‑secondary pathways, Individualized Education Program compliance under Chapter 14, and parent training (a planned "Navigating Your Child's IEP" workshop series).

During questions from board members, Brunner said the district participates in a county consortium that meets monthly; individual districts make local decisions about which programs to maintain and the business offices handle billing and cost allocation when one district places a student in another district's program. On crisis intervention, Brunner said Safe Crisis Management is staff training intended to teach de‑escalation strategies and to avoid physical intervention whenever possible. Asked how the district's 21.1% special education rate compares with others, Brunner said, "I would say we're in the ballpark," and noted that the state figure used in the plan is two years old and the district's current percentage has risen slightly.

The presenters said the draft was posted for a 28‑day public inspection, and next steps are board approval followed by submission to PDE; PDE will review and respond with any requested additions or corrections. No formal vote on the plan itself was recorded at the meeting; the board did vote elsewhere in the meeting to appoint legal counsel for special education matters (see "Votes at a glance").

The presentation included detailed staff counts by building and a list of outside providers; copies of the draft plan and the district's program descriptions were made available on the district website during the public inspection period.