Rockwood board approves partnership with Special School District to study special-education caseloads

The Rockwood Board of Education on Sept. 10 unanimously approved a partnership agreement with the Special School District (SSD) to strengthen special-education collaboration and evaluate staff caseloads across participating districts.

The agreement, presented to the board as agenda item 8.01, frames how Rockwood and SSD will meet federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) requirements under the state’s Regulation 15 and a county-level “general assurance” document. SSD representatives said the partnership will produce a countywide report that could inform staffing and program decisions.

Dr. Carmen Harris, introduced as an SSD representative, described the legal and administrative framework: “Regulation 15 of the state plan is the component that partners Special School District with Rockwood so that we work jointly on certain aspects and separately on other compliance components within St. Louis County.” Dr. Jamie Smith, also part of the SSD team, outlined the pilot’s structure: “There was a work group that met in 2023 to address caseload calculations… In a one‑year pilot that’s happening this year, there are three districts participating: Maplewood Richmond Heights, Riverview, Rockwood, and an SSD building.”

SSD said the pilot measures caseload by service provider (resource teachers, speech-language pathologists, related-service providers) and will combine system-pulled data with manually entered effort logs and staff interviews. “A number is not always a number,” Dr. Smith told the board, emphasizing the pilot’s focus on matching quantitative metrics with the qualitative demands of individual students.

Board members pressed SSD on practical outcomes and timing. One board member asked whether principals and teachers are included; SSD confirmed that administrators and teachers will participate in interviews and classroom walkthroughs and noted that, as of Sept. 10, all 29 Rockwood buildings had completed baseline data collection. SSD representatives said a final pilot report with recommendations and next steps is expected in summer 2025, and cautioned that any staffing changes suggested by the model would likely need to be phased into later budget cycles.

President Midgett called the question after discussion; the board moved and voted to approve the partnership agreement. The motion carried with no recorded opposition.

Next steps described by SSD include continued data collection, focus groups and a finalized report in 2025 that district leaders said they would use to guide staffing and service allocation decisions.