Honeoye CSD meets federal IDEA accountability standard but district staff flag graduation and 'separate settings' gaps

Stacy Talon, director of pupil personnel services for the Honeoye Central School District, presented the district's IDEA accountability matrix for the 2024–25 school year and answered trustees' questions about specific metrics.

Talon told the board the district earned a compliance score of 15 out of 15 (100%) and a performance score of 16 out of 18 (88.89%), producing an overall matrix score of 93.94%, which the presenter said "meets the requirements, because it's above 80%." She contrasted that with the 2023–24 overall matrix score of 77.42%, which placed the district in a "needs assistance" category the prior year.

Talon identified where points were lost in 2024–25: two students with disabilities were recorded as not graduating. She explained one student earned a CDOS (Career Development and Occupational Studies) credential and another was alternately assessed; both outcomes are reported by the state as "not graduating," which increased the district's reported non-graduation percentage among students with disabilities. "If a student per their IEP is alternately assessed, it means that they are incapable of getting a diploma," Talon said, adding the district reviews flowcharts and processes carefully because "it's a huge decision to say that a student can never get a diploma."

Talon also said the district lost points in the 'school-age in separate settings' indicator: 6.82% of students with disabilities were placed in separate settings (private school, homebound or hospital settings, excluding BOCES), above the target of 4.8%. She told trustees the small size of the district and the varied needs of out-of-district placements make it challenging to develop in-district programs for those students and that occasionally only a single alternately assessed student exists at a given grade level, limiting program formation.

Trustees asked clarifying questions about how cohorts and extended timelines affect reported graduation rates. Talon said the state reports graduation relative to the student's cohort year and that a student who returns after their cohort year to earn a diploma is still recorded as not graduating for the original cohort. She said the district plans to present more detail on 12:1:1 programs and other special-education initiatives at a fall board meeting.

Talon encouraged board members to review the IDEA accountability matrix and state indicators available on the NYSED data portal for further detail.

The presentation closed with trustees thanking Talon and the superintendent for the update; no formal votes were associated with the presentation itself.