Chandler Unified outlines special-education continuum, reports preschool inclusion gains

Kim Marshall, the district’s executive director of student personalized learning, outlined Chandler Unified School District’s special-education continuum in a study session on Feb. 12, describing how services range from general-education inclusion to residential and homebound instruction and noting recent gains in preschool inclusion.

Marshall said 69.3% of students with disabilities are currently included in the general-education curriculum — a figure the district has targeted at 70%. “Our goal has always been to have at least 70% of our students in the generalized setting so that they have access to the content and to the skills that our teachers have,” Marshall said.

The presentation walked the board through placement levels used in district records — from brief pull-out resource supports to specialized classrooms, public specialized day programs and residential placements — and described counseling, paraeducator supports and related services that accompany each placement. Marshall stressed that placements are based on a student’s “skills, abilities and needs,” not a diagnosis: “We do not say that if a student has autism, you’re going to this specific program,” she said.

Marshall highlighted preschool changes the district has made through collaborative funding with community education and Title I, noting the district reduced specialized preschool classrooms from 19 to 8 by creating inclusive 3- and 4-year-old programs at selected sites. She said the district’s preschool inclusion rate is now about 69% and that the move was recognized at the state level. “We flipped the continuum from having a very highly segregated setting for preschool to now having a very inclusive setting for our preschoolers,” Marshall said.

Megan Davis, the district’s 504 lead and assistant director of student services, described the difference between Section 504 accommodation plans and IDEA-based individualized education programs (IEPs): “The biggest difference between a Section 504 accommodation plan and an IEP is goals and services,” Davis said. She told the board the district currently serves about 5,071 students on IEPs and approximately 1,700 students on Section 504 plans (the 504 figure she gave as an estimate).

April Vaye Shulkin, specialist for public and private day placements, described the Chandler Learning Center (CLC), a district-operated public specialized day program next to Willis Junior High that serves students with intellectual disabilities and autism and provides transition and life-skills instruction for older students. She said the district now operates four or five transition classrooms for students ages 18–22 in the PLACE program, which focuses on vocational and daily-living skills.

Board members asked for clarifications about funding and operations. In response to a question about average cost to educate a student with a disability, Marshall cited a prior cost study and an informal rule of thumb used locally: “it typically costs twice as much for the district to educate a student with a disability,” she said, while noting that individual student costs vary widely depending on the services required. Marshall also referenced a $377,000 contract approved earlier in the fall for real-time captioning for two students with hearing impairments as an example of high-cost supports the district pays for regardless of whether additional funding fully covers those costs.

Marshall and staff described regionalized specialized classroom placements at the elementary and secondary levels, transportation responsibilities when a student is placed outside their home school, and models of co-teaching and itinerant services. She said the district’s practice is to provide transition planning by the end of ninth grade and to support students up to age 22 when appropriate under federal law. “All means all,” Marshall said, summarizing the district’s stated approach to inclusion and support.

The presentation closed after questions about procedural responsibilities for 504 plans, private-day enrollment trends, and staffing. District staff credited added behavior specialists and site-based interventions for a decline in private-day placements and emphasized supports to keep students on comprehensive campuses when possible. The study session transitioned to a brief break before the regular board meeting.