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Board approves Navigate360 subscription; district outlines plans for in-house therapeutic emotional-support services
Summary
The Wilson School District Board approved a Navigate360 subscription, to be paid with Pennsylvania Community Crime and Delinquency Grant funds, and discussed a new RFP for elementary therapeutic emotional-support services as special-education enrollment grows.
The Wilson School District Board approved an item to add an additional services subscription with Navigate360, a system that bundles visitor management, a panic button and emergency management features, pending solicitor review and approval. District staff said the subscription will be paid for with Pennsylvania Community Crime and Delinquency Grant funds.
Board member Mrs. Denney summarized the student-experience committee's discussion of safety and security and described Navigate360 as a tool that can provide staff with an on-demand panic button that differentiates emergency severity and an immediate view of who is in a building during an incident. "The system will also allow them to immediately know who is in the building," Denney said, noting staff concerns about rapid notification and building accountability.
In the same committee update, administrators said a request for proposals for therapeutic emotional-support services at the elementary level has been issued; the district expects to report more in coming months. Staff explained that, before this RFP, families sometimes had to place students out of county to receive specialized emotional-support services, which increased transportation and per-diem costs.
The board heard special-education enrollment figures: staff said that in February 2007 there were 905 special-education students in the district and that the current count is 1,380 students, representing roughly 20% of the district's population. Administrators framed the in-house therapeutic support as an effort to serve students locally and reduce out-of-district placements.
Why this matters: The Navigate360 subscription will change how staff manage emergencies and visitors; the therapeutic support RFP and growing special-education caseload have budgetary, staffing and service-delivery implications for the district.
