CREC Consultants Begin Special Ed. Review

Representatives from the Capital Region Education Council (CREC) laid out preliminary plans for looking into the Suffield public school district's special education program on Wednesday night.

There were about 20 people in attendance to hear CREC’s Margaret MacDonald, director of technical assistance and brokering services, and Deborah Richards, director of student services, go over the timeline and process of studying the special education program. The timeline for the study is set for June through the end of October.

MacDonald said she is looking forward to working with and talking to all the parents of special education students. She said she is excited to share her 36 years of special education experience with the district. She has conducted 40 special education reviews since 2001.

The review will include four evaluation questions identified by the school board:

1. To what extent are special education students benefitting from the programs and services provided by the school system?
2. Are the processes used to determine eligibility for special education and related services effective and efficient?
3. Are resources utilized effectively and efficiently to meet the needs of the special education population?
4. To what extent is the communication with stakeholders effective in meeting the needs of special education students?

MacDonald said CREC’s evaluation will consider individual student education plan reviews, financial and program documents, comparative data from the state and district levels, focus interviews, parent surveys and classroom observations among other sources.

Parents who don’t want their child's file accessed as part of the review process can contact the school.

A confidential survey will be mailed out to parents with children receiving special education or disability services, called section 504 services. Section 504 prohibits discrimination against students because of physical or mental disabilities. Parents are encouraged to answer the questions in the survey and add comments.

Phase one of the timeline, planned to conclude in August, includes a logistics meeting with the school board and administration, a parent information session, review of district and state reports and documents and review of individual student education plans.

Phase two is planned to start in September and end in mid-October. It includes school visits, focus interviews, in-depth reviews and data collection.

The confidential focus groups will consist of 10 to 15 parents and will be held at different times to accommodate parents, MacDonald said.

“We are looking at things that are working or not working to come up with a plan to fix the issues,” she said.

Phase three includes the actual report, to be written and presented to the school board at the end of October.

Mary Ellen Tunsky, a member of the Suffield Board of Education’s ad-hoc special education committee, said the school board has received emails and letters from parents in the last couple of months about special education in town.

According to the board’s minutes from its April 26 meeting, the CREC study will cost approximately $15,000.