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Director reports rise in students served, flags state IEP system rollout problems
Summary
York School District 1’s director of special services said the district now serves 20.6% of students in special education, cited national increases (notably autism) and reported that the state’s new IEP/data system rollout (PCG) has caused technical problems and extra local work to ensure compliance and IEP completion.
Director of Special Services Brian Greeson told the board that York School District 1 now serves 20.6% of its students through special education programs and that national trends show increases in identification categories including autism.
Greeson said the district’s compliance areas remain strong — annual reviews and evaluations are completed on time and eighth-grade ELA and math targets for students with disabilities were met — but enrollment and transfers have driven growth. “Every year at the October, we report to the state exactly how many students we have being served in special education,” he said, adding that the district’s student count rose by 37 students in the most recent year snapshot.
Greeson also summarized progress-monitoring data: a May 2024 snapshot showed 76% of IEP goals were making progress, 11% had been mastered and 13% had not yet been mastered or introduced. “That IEP is a very fluid document,” he said, and the district is focusing on moving students to more challenging goals as they progress.
The director warned the board about significant implementation challenges with the state’s new IEP and data-management contractor. “They went for PCG and it went live for use and ready to go on July 11 this summer,” Greeson said. He described recurring technical issues that required frequent help-desk tickets, twice-monthly office hours for staff support and close coordination with the state and vendor to resolve problems. “Our teachers are struggling right now with IEPs, but it's getting better,” he said, calling it one of the district’s biggest current challenges.
Greeson credited district staffing and local ‘grow your own’ paraprofessional-to-teacher pathways — including work with state programs — for helping maintain related-services staffing. He said the district is supporting paraprofessionals nearing licensure as special education teachers to address staffing sustainability.
The board asked for clarification on transfer counts and identification rates; Greeson noted the district saw substantial in-migration of students with existing IEPs in 2022–23 and said Child Find identification within the district has lagged behind recent transfer volumes.
