Hardy County Schools board hears special-education update as county test proficiency falls

Dixie Bean, board member, opened the meeting and introduced a special-education update presented by Beth.

Beth told the board she placed a detailed special-education worksheet at each member's seat and summarized current counts. She said the district’s gifted column has risen to 17 after recent referrals and that several additional students are slated for gifted testing. She identified counts for occupational and physical therapy and explained that self-contained special-education classrooms are capped at 12 students while other special-education staff often carry caseloads of up to 30 students responsible for services across classes.

On student achievement, Beth said statewide results released to the district show a drop in county math proficiency to 28.5%, which she said is about a 5 percentage-point decrease from the prior year. She read additional summary rankings for ELA and science (ELA listed at rank 32; science ranked 40 with 22.7% proficiency) and said some numeric lines in the release remain embargoed. Beth told the board she will analyze subgroup and grade-level performance — including special education results — and deliver a fuller presentation once the official data are released and the district can “dig down deep.”

Board members pressed for clarification of classroom sizes and case-load expectations, and Beth reiterated that self-contained rooms are limited to 12 students while other special-education staff may be responsible for services to as many as 30 students. The board asked Beth to follow up with a district-level breakdown by school and subgroup so members can identify where support is most needed.

The board did not take action on instructional policy at this meeting; Beth said she will return with a formal presentation of the disaggregated results and recommendations.