Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Southeast Delco board reviews multiple special-education contracts and expanded behavioral-health supports
Summary
Board members were asked to ratify several out-of-district and private-school special-education contracts for 2025–26 and to approve behavioral-health service agreements, while questioning how often and for whom contracted services would be used.
The Southeast Delco School District on Sept. 18 presented a package of special-education contract ratifications and new behavioral-health service agreements for the 2025–26 school year, and board members pressed administrators for details about how often the services would be needed.
Administrators asked the board to ratify contracts with Pathway School, River Rock Academy (one student), the Pennsylvania School for the Deaf (two students), Elwyn (related one-to-one services for one student) and Life Works (operated by Foundations/UHS of Doylestown LLC) for identified students. The special-education department also asked the board to ratify a contract with Child Guidance Resource Centers to provide a school-based mental-health worker (one full-time equivalent or two part-time staff on a 50/50 split) at a cost listed in the packet and to approve a professional-services agreement with Gamut Behavioral Health Services for functional behavioral assessments, positive-behavior supports and related services.
"We have about 14 self-contained autistic-support classrooms in the district," Dr. Tapper said during a question-and-answer exchange, explaining that those classrooms sometimes require board-certified behavioral analysts (BCBAs) and registered behavioral technicians (RBTs). She added that the district’s psychologists handle much of the functional behavioral assessment work but that contracted clinicians are used for the highest-need cases to avoid out-of-district placements.
Board members pressed for concrete counts and said they wanted to understand which services had been used historically versus those that are part of umbrella contracts. Administrators said last year the district used a contracted service for one student (five hours per week) and that crisis-intervention specialists and other team-based supports are available on an as-needed basis; they agreed to provide the board with counts by service category.
The packet also included a confidential settlement agreement for one student; the administration said board members would receive a copy of that agreement the following day.
No formal vote on the ratifications is recorded in the meeting transcript provided; agenda materials request board approval of the listed contracts and agreements.
