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Board weighs whether Weston High’s 0.5‑FTE student support specialist should sit inside guidance
Summary
Board members pressed administrators about a 0.5 FTE student support specialist at Weston High School—whether the role should be embedded in guidance or remain a separate MTSS coordinator—while administrators cited rising IEP and 504 caseloads to justify dedicated coordination.
Board members pressed Weston administrators over the scope and placement of a 0.5 full‑time‑equivalent student support specialist at Weston High School during a budget briefing.
The high‑school presenter said the position is split between classroom instruction and MTSS coordination: "So this person is a 0.5 science teacher and a 0.5, student support specialist," she said, adding the office is housed in the main office and the specialist chairs the multi‑tiered system of supports meetings, coordinates referrals, works one‑on‑one with students and helps schedule students into math or literacy lab interventions.
Some board members asked whether the role could be absorbed by guidance. The high‑school presenter and other administrators said counselors have many responsibilities—case management for 504 plans, crisis response, scheduling and college‑and‑career work—and that the specialist provides an "umbrella" coordination function that preserves whole‑student supports across academic and social‑emotional domains.
A district participant provided district special‑education data to contextualize the staffing need: IEP enrollment increased from 249 students in 2018 to 323 in 2024; there are 278 504 plans districtwide and about 180 504 plans at the high school. The speaker said rising numbers of students with IEPs and 504 plans increase workload for counselors, psychologists and social workers and argued for a dedicated coordinator.
Board members asked the administration to supply the number of students the specialist is "actively engaged with" (beyond those placed in labs) and asked for caseload figures and modeling to compare embedding the function within guidance versus keeping a separate coordinator. Administrators said the counts fluctuate with daily referrals and committed to supplying updated numbers.
The discussion closed without a staffing decision; board members asked for further data ahead of future budget deliberations.
