Beacon City School District details special education services, rising costs and staffing needs

Assistant Superintendent Heather Chadwell Dennis told the Beacon City School District Board of Education on March 24 that the district is serving about 458 students under individualized education programs across six school buildings and is managing growing preschool-level need that is adding pressure to next year’s pupil services budget.

Chadwell Dennis said 74 classified preschool students are in the district now, with 13 evaluations pending. She reported 40 students currently in out-of-district placements (six of them residential), and noted the district is within last year’s budget projection of 43 such placements. She said a number of students who require services previously traveled to other schools for programing but increasingly receive services in their home building — for example, a rise from 34% to 59% for students whose home school is JVF who now receive programming in that building.

The presentation described statutory frameworks the department follows, including the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and noted the Office for Civil Rights as the federal oversight office Chadwell Dennis referenced. She reviewed the district’s contracted services…