Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education Pg topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Special education director outlines state PG review, LEA rating and benefits of two school-year psychologists
Summary
Litchfield's director of special services told the board the district remains in a "needs assistance" LEA determination and explained how small counts on alternate assessments skew proficiency outcomes; she also walked trustees through state program-approval components and presented data supporting the district's decision to keep two school-year psychologists.
Miss Per, Litchfield's director of special services, presented a detailed briefing June 10 about the district's upcoming state Program Approval and General Supervision (PG) review and related special education indicators.
She said the district's 25-26 LEA determination (based on 24-25 school-year data) remains "needs assistance," with assessment and proficiency measures the primary area of concern. Miss Per explained that because Litchfield is a small district, a single student's result on the alternate state assessment (DLM) can move a districtwide metric: she said Litchfield had about four students taking the alternate assessment this year and two the prior year, making year-to-year percentages volatile.
Miss Per reviewed the eight PG components the state will examine, including the organizational chart, indicators and data, educational environments, equitable services (services to students in private schools), electronic student-file reviews, fiscal profiles, classroom observations (focused on verifying that students present match IEP descriptions) and staff/parent surveys and listening sessions. She said the district's cohort will begin work in August with electronic file reviews expected in October.
On staffing, Miss Per described last year's reconfiguration of a single year-round school psychologist role into two school-year positions, with one psychologist assigned to GMS and the other splitting time between LMS and CHS. She presented time-use estimates showing that if one person attempted all duties it would amount to roughly 1,228 hours a school year, leaving an impractical remainder of about 18 hours for other tasks; staff feedback, she said, showed improved access to services and better team collaboration with two positions.
Miss Per also reported improvements on the parent involvement (Indicator 8) survey: response rates rose to about 20.29%, above a cited state average of 11%, with average responses approximately three on a four-point scale. The board asked follow-up questions about participation rates and next steps; Miss Per said the state will offer feedback after the PG review and that district staff are preparing documentation and staff/parent surveys ahead of the monitoring work.
Board members requested that administration continue to track enrollment and staffing needs, and to share file-review preparations with building special-education staff. No formal action was required at the meeting.
