Suffern officials outline expansion of special-education services and growth in Medicaid billing

At the Suffern Central School District Board of Education meeting on April 7, Director of Pupil Personnel Services Dominique Maribel presented a district plan to expand special-education services, increase Medicaid billing and add embedded social‑emotional supports.

Maribel said the department audited programming, standardized program descriptions on the district website and has begun accepting tuition‑based placements from neighboring districts. "Because of that, South Orangetown, Clarkstown, Tuxedo, and next year Pearl River all have given us applications to accept their students for tuition based programming within our special education courses," she said.

The presentation included financial details: "Last year was the first year since 2020 that we were able to start billing again for services, for speech, occupational therapy, and physical therapy, and we were able to bring in around $600,000 in revenue," Maribel told the board. She said the district is projected to bring in "about $800,000 in revenue" this school year and is exploring expanding billable services to include counseling and transportation.

Why it matters: expanding in‑district services can reduce reliance on out‑of‑district placements, which Maribel said both supports students’ continuity and helps district finances. She outlined specific instructional and therapeutic plans: extending Integrated Co‑Teach (ICT) to K–12 in future years, piloting a 15:1 Learning Center for grades 3–5 next year, and broadening access to animal, art and music therapy across grade levels.

On reading and dyslexia supports, Maribel told the board that dyslexia is a medical diagnosis the district recognizes and that supports are individualized once a diagnosis is received. She said the district currently provides a reading specialist at the high school and middle school and is training a special‑education teacher to provide reading supports at grades 3–5 and potentially K–2 in future years. "If we find a need that a student is a second grader and we have to pivot and move that person for a second grader, we will do that because that's what the child needs," she said.

Board members pressed for operational details. On behavior supports, Maribel said the district currently uses a BCBA‑certified consultant who is deployed on a case‑by‑case basis but is exploring assigning a BCBA or behavior specialist to be embedded in an elementary building on a day‑to‑day schedule. On bilingual special‑education work, she said she and Director Balbuena are researching models and plan to propose a rollout for the 2027–28 school year, saying the program would be "the first in the Lower Hudson Valley" when presented to the board.

Procedural actions: the board approved the minutes of March 24, 2026 (voice vote; second recorded as Mrs. Hodge) and approved the consent agenda covering action items 2.01–2.12 after Mr. Ander moved and Mrs. Hodge seconded the motion; both were approved by voice vote. A motion to adjourn, moved by Mister Shapiro and seconded by speaker 4, passed and the meeting ended. The superintendent reminded residents that "This year's Suffern Central School District budget and candidate vote will take place on Tuesday, May 19," and provided petition pickup and filing details.

Board member Mister Shapiro urged voter turnout ahead of the vote, noting, "So we only have 42 days left... Last year, we had approximately 2,300," and encouraged residents to bring other voters to the polls.

The next board meeting is scheduled for April 21 at Suffern High School, when the district will recognize the top 10% of the senior class.