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District presents expanded student services plan, highlights SESTAG and MTSS expansions
Summary
Senior student services administrator Jess told the governing board the district's special education caseload has risen from 767 to about 910 students and described new in-house training, a three-year behavior-support grant, and adoption of IEP Pro for better documentation and continuity across schools.
Senior student services administrator Jess told the Sahuarita Unified School District governing board that the district has made "leaps and bounds of progress" in supporting students with specialized needs, detailing growth in special education caseloads and new districtwide supports.
"When I got here six years ago, we had 767 students with IEPs. We are around 910 at this time," Jess said, and described a small central team that now oversees special education, English learner services, 504 plans, gifted programming and school counseling. She said the department is emphasizing continuity of services when students move between sites and will begin using the IEP Pro platform for IEP/504 and MTSS documentation.
Jess outlined several initiatives the board will see implemented: in-house trainers for the Comprehensive School Threat Assessment Guidelines (SESTAG), a three-year AD-funded grant for multi-tiered behavior supports (MTBS), expanded Multi-Tiered System of Supports (MTSS) work and a newly created instructional leadership academy for site leaders. "Our overarching goal is to keep kids safe and to make sure that they have successful academic and overall outcomes," she said.
Behavior specialist Candace Provenio explained the district's SESTAG work, noting the team has been trained as "trainers of trainers" and now partners with regional law enforcement to coordinate threat assessment and documentation protocols. "We're really looking at documentation process because we want to make sure that we're able to look at data and analyze it," Provenio said, describing efforts to identify grade levels and patterns where interventions are needed.
Monica Ion, the new strategist and coach working with MTSS, said the district is standardizing tiered supports and building a platform so interventions transfer as students move between schools: "Here you go. No matter where they go...they're going to get that same structures and that same supports at that school and carry on."
Board members praised the work and gave personal testimonials about students who benefited from the services. Superintendent Dr. Manuel Valenuela said the initiatives reflect a strategic direction toward "safe and supportive schools" and thanked the team for the focus on data-driven practice.
Next steps identified by administration include rollout of the MTSS/MTBS platforms at additional sites, continued training for new SESTAG personnel, monitoring outcomes from the three-year MTBS grant, and the phased implementation of the IEP Pro documentation system.
The board did not take a formal vote on program changes during the presentation; the session was informational and several items will return to the board for later action or routine approvals.
