District Administration - January 2012 - (Page 53)

Special Ed Continued from page 36 Seeking Savings in Pendergast’s contract included a lead clinician to supervise the various therapists, a position missing in the past. “That was the piece that was really appealing—a person who oversees all of our clinicians and really does supervise these people,” says Paul McDonald, Pendergast’s assistant superintendent for administrative services, who adds that he stays in close touch with the personnel provided by Futures. McDonald and the district’s special education director meet weekly with the lead clinician, who is also a member of the district leadership team. The various special education therapists, meanwhile, are integrated into the district’s staff meetings and trainings. Even with the new lead clinician position, Pendergast’s fixed-cost contract with Futures has saved the district $100,000 annually, but McDonald finds the greatest value in the guarantee that he won’t have to pay more even if more students qualify for special education services. “The contract is based on our financial and clinical performance, and we guarantee the district cost savings per each child going into the program,” says Future’s founder and president, Peter Bittel. “When Futures needs additional people to deal with a rising caseload, there’s no extra cost,” McDonald adds. “It’s also an open-door partnership in that, if we find a Doing What Is Required Under Special Ed Laws Rather than outsourcing special education services, districts such needed,’” parents will be more likely to agree. as the Scottsdale (Ariz.) Unified School District and the Simsbury In Simsbury, meanwhile, Superintendent Diane Ullman has led the (Conn.) Public Schools have been scrutinizing the scope and dura- effort to deploy resources more efficiently—without sacrificing qualtion of the services they provide. ity—starting with well-defined criteria for the entry into and exit out of “We’ve really been proactive,” explains Scottsdale’s interim special ed. “We’re making sure that we’re using the same metrics in superintendent, David Peterson. “We’ve brought special educa- all special education therapies and making sure that the students gettion folks, curriculum folks ting those services still need and district administrators them,” she says. together, and we’ve done a The district also has lot to educate them about overhauled its early intervenwhat IDEA is.” What they’ve tion program, replacing more done includes consulting legal than 30 paraprofessional counsel as to what the fedaides assigned to individual eral law requires of districts. students with eight “highly “Sometimes it’s a matter of, qualified” teachers of reading, ‘Do we have to do this?’” he who work with groups of two says. “You can become too or three students. “The kids nurturing to a student.” are getting better instruction At the heart of Scottsdale’s from highly qualified people approach are effective meetat a reduced cost,” Ullman ings among special education points out, noting that the staff, teachers and parents changes have saved the disto develop individual educatrict $200,000 annually. tion plans without going over- Reading teachers at Simsbury (Conn.) Public Schools meet with Principal A review of the district’s board. “We have a constitu- Kerry Jones, of Squadron Line Elementary School, on left, to discuss criteria speech therapy program difency that has a high level of for entry into and out of special ed programs. Collaboration and teamwork ferentiated the students who expectation, and parents are are key to the Simsbury Reading Intervention Program. could be serviced in groups going to advocate—and they from those requiring one-onshould—but we don’t have to agree with it,” Peterson says. “That’s one attention. “We went from 10 speech therapists to 6,” Ullman part of the training for holding effective IEP meetings, because some- says. “Lo and behold, we saved another $300,000 a year.” times you can agree to something that is cost-prohibitive.” Between the 2007-2008 and 2010-2011 school years, Ullman There is also an ongoing dialogue between special education reports, the percentage of the budget devoted to special education and classroom teachers, Peterson continues, “so they can say to has declined from 19.6 percent to 18.2 percent. “There’s a sort of parents these are the things we can do in the regular classroom prevailing attitude that special education can’t be touched because without going outside of it.” The district engages parents early of the laws,” she concludes, referring to money-saving changes in in the process of developing IEPs. “By being proactive [in engag- the district’s program. “But we’re also in an era where we have to ing them early in the process], when we say, ‘This is what’s scrutinize every last account.” www.DistrictAdministration.com January 2012 53 http://www.DistrictAdministration.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of District Administration - January 2012

District Administration - January 2012
Contents
Letters
News Update
Conversations
District Profile
Administrator Profile
Finding the Perfect Fit
Kansas City Plots Next Steps
Seeking Savings in Special Ed
K12 Guide to Audio/Visual Solutions
Equipping Teachers to Infuse Technology
Flipped Classrooms Gaining Ground
Buying in Bulk
Online Identity Management
Going Mobile
Student Counsel
Online Edge
New Books
New Products
Product Focus
Professional Opinion

District Administration - January 2012