North Kingstown SELAC hears full review of special-education continuum; district adds on-site ABA clinic, flags staffing and space needs

Dr. Rachel Santa, director of student services for North Kingstown, presented a comprehensive review of the district's special-education continuum at the NKCLAC meeting, detailing programs from preschool inclusion through high-school transition services and announcing an on-site ABA clinic added last year to address family waitlists.

Santa said the district moved preschool services into the Davis Hill Academy/Early Learning Center over the summer to create space for new programs and to improve service delivery. She described preschool inclusion and Bright Beginnings (a highly structured preschool for students with significant disabilities), noted cohort capacity targets (Bright Beginnings aims to keep cohorts under 10), and said the district added an ABA clinic on the preschool wing after nine families had been on waiting lists for services elsewhere. "This is an option," Santa said of the private ABA clinic, noting families pay a nominal rental fee and services are funded through students' Medicaid.

Santa walked members through middle- and high-school offerings, including Positive Pathways (a program being developed for Davis Middle School), BRIDGES at Davis Middle School, intensive-resource classrooms at the elementary and high-school levels (a revamp of Success Academy), RISE (Reaching Independence Through Support and Education), and SAIL, a transition program that supports post-graduation skills and community employment placements. She said RISE cohorts are kept small (Santa cited a goal to keep the cohort under eight for that program) and that the intensive-resource model typically provides about two hours per day of direct instruction in addition to related services.

On staffing and capacity, Santa said the district is "recommending quite a few more school psychologists" and other positions to reduce pressure on existing staff. "We're really at capacity for what we're doing," she said, adding the aim is to move beyond "adequate" provision toward higher-quality services. Santa also described space constraints as a primary factor shaping where programs are located and how they are scaled: some buildings simply do not have room to add programs without adjustments.

Santa emphasized program decision-making takes place at the IEP team level and cautioned against treating program descriptions as a consumer —shopping list.— "This is not like a shopping list where parents go through and say, I want my kid in that program," she said, explaining placement must be appropriate for each child and will be managed through team meetings, visits and transition planning.

The presentation noted community partnerships and transition supports: staff listed community employers and partners used for job placements and job coaching, and named Launch Beginnings as an outside agency the district uses for some job-coaching support. Santa said some students attend community college classes with supports and that the district continues to develop individualized post-secondary plans.

Materials from Santa's presentation will be posted on the NKCLAC website; she also reminded parents the district will enter the budget cycle and that SELAC input on priorities could inform next year's requests. The committee recorded upcoming events and confirmed the next meeting on February 26; minutes from the previous meeting were approved by show of hands earlier in the session (specific counts were not recorded).