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Auburn Public Schools to bring preschool special-education services in-house under CDS transition
Summary
Director of Student Services Laura Shaw told the Auburn School Committee the district is implementing the state's CDS cohort 2 transition, reporting roughly 36 preschoolers with IEPs, expanded staff funded partly by the Department of Education, and plans to build capacity to reduce out-of-district placements over time.
Laura Shaw, Auburn Public Schools— director of student services, told the school committee on Oct. 1 that the district is implementing the state—s CDS transition cohort 2 to take responsibility for special-education services for 3- to 5-year-olds. "This is a CDS, transition cohort 2 update," Shaw said, explaining the change shifts responsibility and funding flows to the district.
Shaw reported the district currently serves about 36 children with individualized education programs — 26 who are 4 and 10 who are 3 — and identified 28 children in the child-find process. She said the Auburn School Department employs about 4.5 staff dedicated to early childhood special education, has more than 11 contracts with external providers (psychologists, occupational and physical therapists, BCBAs and speech pathologists), has two early-childhood positions posted and has submitted one application to purchase a van for transportation needs. "We have the staffing and we have the resources to be able to meet those timelines and be compliant," Shaw said.
Shaw said parts of existing staff salaries can be subsidized by the Maine Department of Education under the CDS allocation. She said assistant director Rod Butot—s work with the 3–5 caseload has expanded and a portion of his salary is now charged to DOE funds; Shaw also noted a portion of her own salary could be subsidized. "We are now actually working on the spreadsheet," she said, describing quarterly allocations and the reporting process used to calculate state funding for services.
Committee members pressed for details on how the district will reduce out-of-district placements. Adam Platt, the city council representative, asked whether the district intends to build programs so students from neighboring districts can attend in Auburn, reversing the current practice of sending some children elsewhere. Shaw said the district sees that as a longer-term goal: "We definitely would think about in the future being able to develop really comprehensive programming for these kiddos," she said, pointing to plans such as the Little Explorers CDS program and a potential early childhood center.
Members also asked about where services are provided. Shaw said Auburn staff travel to Head Start sites, the YMCA and classroom-based pre-K programs, while contracted providers deliver in-school speech and occupational therapy; some families continue to take children to private providers. She described active networking with regional providers to ensure parental choice and service coverage.
Shaw acknowledged a formatting error in presentation slides and said she would provide a corrected copy to the committee. Superintendent Sue Doris thanked Shaw, Chrissy Linehan (pre-K coordinator) and the team for the work to launch the program.
The committee did not take formal policy action on the CDS transition at the Oct. 1 meeting; questions centered on staffing, funding mechanics and longer-term capacity to reduce out-of-district placements.
Next steps: Shaw will circulate the corrected presentation and continue work on staffing and program development under the CDS transition.
