Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Special services reports updated 504 guidance, transition process and improved parent survey results
Summary
Director of Special Services Dawn Gresham reported updates to the district's 504 manual, a district advancement process for transitions, expanded MIS guidance, a RACI accountability grid, and improved parent-satisfaction survey results; staffing levels were reported as stable for certified positions.
Doctor Dawn Gresham, Derby’s director of special services, told the board on Feb. 24 the department has updated multiple processes and materials intended to strengthen compliance, transitions and family communication.
Gresham said the district revised its 504 manual in light of recent judicial guidance and expanded the district’s management-information-system manual from roughly 10–15 pages to nearly 80 pages to meet state reporting standards for IEPs. The special services office also implemented a district advancement process to clarify transition planning at key grade changes (early childhood to kindergarten, fifth to sixth, and eighth to ninth). Gresham said those changes are intended to make transitions clearer and to improve communication among families and staff.
Gresham described a RACI (Responsible, Accountable, Consulted, Informed) grid the department is using to clarify responsibilities and reduce dropped tasks. She said the department resumed IEP file reviews this year to combine compliance checks with professional development opportunities and has held “just-in-time” trainings on data collection, specially designed instruction, executive functioning and prompting; attendance at those trainings has averaged about four staff per session.
Staffing and compliance: Gresham said certified special education positions are currently fully staffed; paraprofessional vacancies have fallen compared with the prior year after a base-pay increase for paraprofessionals. When she prepared the report there were four paraprofessional vacancies (two at the high school, one at Oak Lawn and one at Park Hill); district hiring has since filled some openings.
Parent engagement and survey results: Gresham said the department’s parent newsletter and monthly parent discussions continue, though attendance at the monthly discussions has been low. The parent satisfaction survey results showed increases or stable results across categories Gresham reviewed. She said the district reworded a chronic-absenteeism question to better identify barriers; parents ranked before- and after-school care as the most common barrier, followed by transportation and communication concerns.
Gresham said the special services department is now included in the district strategic plan and that the department will present SMART goals to the board in June tied to professional learning, transitions and 504 implementation.
