Special Education Department demonstrates it meets many of its students needs

A state report has determined special education in Wareham is meeting most of the needs of its students, though the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education did find areas for the school district to improve on.

During the Oct. 17 Wareham School Committee meeting, Director of Student Services for Wareham Public Schools Melissa Fay delivered the findings of the report.

Every three years, the department of elementary and secondary education reviews all school districts and their special education programs across the commonwealth by visiting each school, observing the special education programs and interviewing a variety of faculty and parents. The report is known as the Tiered Focused Monitoring System.

The state came to Wareham during the 2023-2024 school year to conduct the report, which assesses the school district through a variety of criteria based on two different categories, civil rights and special education. From there, the state will decide if their criteria has been fully implemented, partially implemented or not implemented at all. School districts are issued citations for criteria partially or not implemented.

The civil rights category covers how the school district protects the rights of all its students and the special education category involves the special education programs provided by the school district.

There are 483 students on active IEPs across the school district, totaling over 30% of all Wareham students. According to Wareham Public Schools Superintendent Matt D'Andrea, The state average for a school district is 20.2%.

Based on the state's report, the special education department fully implemented the majority of the state's criteria and received five areas to work on across the report.

Fay explained she is contesting two of these five because the school district was cited for not formally writing down activities that have become second nature to the staff.

One area the school district got cited for is the percentage of students on IEPs who spend time outside the general education classroom.

According to Fay, 24.1% of students on IEPs are in a "substantial separate placement." This means 24.1% of students on IEPs spend at least 60% of their time outside of the general classroom, in a separate classroom or program designed for students with special needs. The state wants to see that percentage drop to 13.2% of students, but Fay wants to ensure she is giving the children the services they need, she said.

"It is a little bit of a skewed view because if I were to take 12% more of our students who aren't ready to participate more in the general setting, then I would be doing them a disservice," said Fay.

According to Fay, when a criteria is considered partially implemented or not implemented at all, the special education department is given a corrected action plan for the criteria from the state. They have one year to demonstrate they have implemented the plan.

Another area the special education department was cited on was following proper procedures regarding student discipline and problem resolution.

Fay explained during the report, the special education department had received two complaints in which the state deemed the department did not follow the proper discipline process.

Fay added the school district was issued training by the state to help the staff understand the discipline process better and this training has already been completed.

One criteria not fully implemented was professional development offered to bus drivers. The state deemed it was only partially implemented, and it would like to see more specific professional development regarding specific needs and what accommodations might be on a bus.

"We're working on a new professional development series for bus drivers," said Fay. "We're creating a procedural manual with suggestions and things a bus driver might see."

Overall, Fay explained she is proud of how the special education department has been able to help students across the school district this past year.

"I think we work really hard as a team and we built a really strong team so I am really happy with the results," said Fay.