Wachusett special education director reports staffing, service‑alignment gains and DESE reclassification to 'meets requirements'

Director DeAngelis, director of special education for the Wachusett Regional School District, told the committee that the district has made measurable progress in special education services over the last two years, including staff increases, caseload realignment and programmatic changes.

"We increased professional staffing through attrition. There were about 17 professional positions that were added to our special ed program to better serve our students," Director DeAngelis said, describing district efforts to align providers to school locations, even out caseloads and schedule team meeting days so staff can consult without losing instructional time.

The director said the district has about 1,100 students on individualized education programs across 13 schools and credited a technology‑driven service‑delivery report with helping identify service needs by building. She described new team‑chair roles in each school, co‑teaching expansion, program renaming and expanded inclusive and unified course offerings at the middle and high school levels.

DeAngelis summarized results from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education’s (DESE) Integrated Monitoring Review, saying the district previously was in a "needs intervention" status but "in one year, we received a meets requirements." She added that 36 of 38 criteria were found fully implemented and the three civil‑rights criteria reviewed were fully implemented as well.

The director was explicit about the two partially implemented areas identified by DESE. One concerns notices to parents about transfer of rights at age 18. "We aren't consistently sending out notices that we need to work on," she said. The other is timely provision of finalized IEP documents to parents after a meeting; DeAngelis said DESE’s interpretation requires districts to provide the IEP within five days following the IEP meeting, which will require procedural adjustments.

Committee members pressed for detail on several topics. Member Poole asked how cost‑sharing is handled when parents live in different districts; DeAngelis said cost responsibility is split when parents have equal custody. Member Kirschbaum asked how the district responds to parents who say their child’s experience has not improved; DeAngelis said data‑driven decision making and clearer communication with families is a priority and cited a reduced number of PRS complaints. Member Runstrom and others pressed on staffing needs to expand authentic co‑teaching; DeAngelis said reaching a district‑level goal such as 75% of students in full inclusion would likely require additional special‑education teachers and expanded professional development.

DeAngelis pointed to several concrete program elements: expanded unified extracurriculars, internships and community‑based employment placements (including partnerships at Anna Maria College, local businesses and nonprofits), a newly inclusive preschool classroom and the addition of teachers to support intensive instruction at the middle level. She also reported improved outcomes tied to attendance, MCAS and graduation tracking: the district reduced dropouts among students with IEPs from the prior year and noted increases in inclusion rates of about 4 percentage points districtwide.

The superintendent and the committee acknowledged continued work remains, especially on communication with families and implementing the two corrective actions identified by DESE. DeAngelis said corrective steps include delivering completed IEPs to parents within the required five‑day window and consistently providing the transfer‑of‑rights notice prior to students’ 18th birthdays.

The presentation generated several requests for follow‑up, including more detailed documentation for parents and a future report on progress toward expanding co‑teaching and staffing to support greater inclusion.