Waunakee curriculum subcommittee hears student services and special education update

The curriculum subcommittee of the Waunakee Community School District School Board convened April 20 to hear updates from the district's student services and special education leaders on attendance, interventions, staffing and parent engagement.

Lisa Jondel, director of student services, told the subcommittee that districtwide April attendance improved compared with last year: "Last year our overall attendance in April was 84.5 and today it was 89.2," she said, adding that schools are meeting regularly to track attendance and tailor interventions. Jondel described the student services portfolio as encompassing counselors, social workers, psychologists and nurses and said the department has focused this year on social-emotional learning to support student access to instruction.

Jondel also flagged McKinney-Vento and related placements, saying the district has five students in out-of-home care this year who receive similar supports to students identified under McKinney-Vento. She highlighted school-level strategies — including Prairie Elementary's "Tucker Tuesdays" and Prince Riggins, the therapy dog at Heritage — as effective tactics to encourage attendance.

Tiffany, director of special education, presented her department's vision for inclusive K–12 environments and set an academic target for the 25–26 school year: "80% of our target group students will make expected growth in reading," she said. Tiffany said the district added the Wilson reading program to expand its menu of research-based interventions and plans to extend math intervention training for special-education staff next year.

On equity, Tiffany reviewed the district's disproportionality ratio and said it has decreased slightly but the district's goal remains to be under 2 "in order to not be considered disproportionate." The team presented referral data showing 62% of referrals were for white students while white students account for 81% of enrollment; African American students represented about 15% of referrals despite representing roughly 1.7% of the district population, a disparity Tiffany said the MTSS (multilevel systems of support) work group will investigate further.

Tiffany described the MTSS work group — which includes student services staff, school psychologists, teachers and administrators — and said the group aims to produce a guidebook to make processes consistent across schools and to identify and correct bias in referral and identification practices.

The subcommittee also heard results from a parent focus group of about 35 parents of students with disabilities that produced a SWOT analysis. Strengths included strong communication, case managers and transition support; weaknesses included transportation challenges, transitions between grade levels, confusion about multiple technology platforms and the time required for federally regulated special-education evaluations. Tiffany said the district has formed a parent advisory group of six parents that has met three times and is coordinating with Middleton's parent group for ideas.

Recommendations the district plans to pursue include parent transition meetings (summer or early August), additional parent education on available resources, earlier case-manager assignments, quieter back-to-school events tailored to students with disabilities and virtual options to increase accessibility.

The chair opened the meeting with routine procedural items and the subcommittee approved the agenda by voice vote. The meeting concluded after the group approved a motion regarding future agendas and meeting scheduling.

The district did not report final spring assessment windows for reading at the time of the meeting; Tiffany said those results would be available after the district completes its third assessment window in early May.