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District special‑education director reports rising IEP caseload and program expansions
Summary
The district's special education director told the board the AIMS autism program and co‑teaching strategies have produced measurable growth for students with IEPs even as the district’s special‑education population has grown toward 500 students, prompting new partnerships and staffing plans.
Nicole, the district’s special education director, told the Chino Valley Unified School District board that the AIMS autism‑specific trainings, augmented ABA strategies and increased data collection have produced year‑to‑year growth for many students with individualized education programs (IEPs).
Nicole gave grade‑to‑grade growth percentages for reading and math across third through eighth grade transitions and cautioned that the percentages reflect improvement rather than a wholesale movement from minimally proficient to proficient. She told the board the district recorded 418 students with IEPs on 10/01/2024, 432 on 10/01/2025 and currently 487, with paperwork for additional students still in process and a projected caseload “close to 500.”
To respond to the rising caseload, Nicole said the district is expanding its continuum of services — from self‑contained EDP classrooms through extended resource and inclusion — and ramping up co‑teaching (special and general educators sharing classroom instruction), beginning at Heritage Middle School and rolling out to the high school next year. She said the team also is increasing in‑district testing capacity by hiring employees instead of using contractors to cut ESA/private‑testing costs, although final cost‑savings figures were not yet available.
Nicole described new partnerships to meet high‑need students’ needs, including a pilot RISE day‑school arrangement and planned centralized interpreter services in collaboration with the Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind (ASDB). She said the district will expand monthly special education training and offer summer EDP and CPI training, and plans to add speech therapists for the coming year.
Board members praised the work and asked clarifying questions about numbers and service delivery; Nicole and other staff confirmed staffing adjustments and reiterated that some students are progressing but remain eligible for special education services.
The board did not take separate action on this presentation; the district will continue staffing and partnership work into the next school year.
