← School Committee · 2025-11-18 · School Committee
Report: Special Education Expense and Summer Program Updates
Agenda original PDF
Minutes original PDF
nto one building this summer, which created some savings, positive feedback received from families, positive feedback also received from surveys of families, and the wonderful opportunity for a more inclusive setting. 2. Educational Programs and Personnel - Jennifer Razi-Thomas/ Margaret Driscoll A Vote: Roosevelt School Improvement Plan Principal Venancia Cruz presented the Roosevelt School Improvement Plan. The plan centers on creating an inclusive, welcoming, and equitable learning environment to promote a sense of belonging for all, with the academic goal of achieving literacy growth for one hundred percent of learners. The plan also aims to improve student attendance, reinforce the "Roosevelt Three R's" (Respectful, Responsible, and Ready to Learn), and utilize the IXL platform to identify skill gaps and implement targeted interventions. MOTION: To Approve the Roosevelt School Improvement Plan RESULT: ACCEPTED [UNANIMOUS] MOVER: Jennifer McAndrew SECONDER: Margaret Raymond Driscoll AYES: Dorie Withey, Jennifer McAndrew, Jennifer Razi-Thomas, Jennifer Grigoraitis, Seamus Kelley, Margaret Raymond Driscoll, Matt Hartman B Report: MCAS Overview Executive Director of Academics & Accou
Transcript
▶ 27:39 Speaker 2: Okay. Is there a motion to approve the reports made by Ms. McAndrews? Seconded by Ms. Raz Thomas. All in favor, and that passes unanimously. Now moving on to the special education expense report and the summer programs update, which I think Ms. Acevedo, are you coming for this one? I Thank Mr. Okay, Next question.
▶ 27:59 Speaker 3: Yep. So you have two memos there. One is the special ed expense update that we typically get, um, monthly. And then also there was a summary for the summer programming, um, that, um, the, the team put together and be happy to answer any questions you may have about either of those.
▶ 28:15 Speaker 2: Okay. Any questions?
▶ 28:20 Speaker 2: Uh, Mr. Rosie Thomas? Um,
▶ 28:20 Speaker 3: Just a few comments and, um, it seems like we offered more services to more students for less money. Yes. And I know that there was a, a reconfiguration of where we offered the program. Is that true? Like everyone was at the Roosevelt for the younger kids, or am I you just explain that A little bit. You're correct. That's, you know, um, high levels of collaboration between, uh, Ms. Acevedo and, um, Ms. Berman's special education department to, uh, align those two programs. Um, and so the, um, Roosevelt School was crowded this summer, but it was also, um, one-stop shopping, which was great. There was some, um, savings realized there. And, um, to that, that team's credit the, you know, watching, um, budgeted dollars and, and building programming for students. I would say that's correct. There was probably more opportunities for students and the costs to come in under budget. Um, do we get any feedback from parents and students of whether it was successful from their, their end? I only received positive feedback on the program, so
▶ 29:27 Speaker 5: Okay. We did survey some, some, um, caregivers and got very positive feedback, um, on it. We did ask students to commit to all five weeks, um, four days a week, which is, is a challenge summer. Yeah. Um, and, and we did have some pockets of, of students who, you know, were away or at camp or whatever. But, um, overall, um, having students more consistently in front, um, in front of teachers and, and with peers, um, it was a really positive experience. We did use some of the, um, title funding, um, to supplement our out of our operating budget as well for that. But we were able to stay within that.
▶ 30:07 Speaker 3: And can you explain how it was more inclusive?
▶ 30:10 Speaker 5: Yeah. So we had an opportunity to include, um, many of our special education students in, um, in some of the smaller groups. So they were almost like co-taught experiences, um, where it was a general education student and a special education student where they were able to be, you know, pulled to the side or pulled out for small periods of times to get their services out outlined in their IEP. But then the other amount of time during that school day, they were able to engage in academic work and some fun stuff too, um, in order to replicate the school day and be consistent through the summer.
▶ 30:42 Speaker 3: I appreciate that everything was unsiloed in that way, and I think that's a, a great experience for everybody to be all together. So great job. Thank you for doing all of this.
▶ 30:52 Speaker 2: Any any other questions, Mr. Hartman? Um, thank you and thank you for the questions as well. It makes me think about, uh, that just iterating, this is a, a voluntary program, right? So we're, we have to, um, encourage students to come to this for the summer and, uh, that can be challenging for many students. And I think at some point, maybe in the future, we could think about how we measure success, uh, in terms of the impact of the program. If we can look back at students who have gone through the program and students who haven't and try to figure out, um, you know, where that puts them after the summer, that might just be a request for the future.
▶ 31:23 Speaker 5: Yeah. And, and they are progress monitored throughout the summer with their beginning year scores or beginning of summer scores and then the end of summer, and then monitored as they come back, um, at the beginning of the school year. They also get some like, progress notes that are sent home to families to let the families know the progress that they've made. Um, so we are collecting that data and we'll be analyzing it, um, as we look at student growth.
▶ 31:44 Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it could be helpful for the community to know as well, so that as we encourage students who need the extra support during the summer mm-hmm. It's something we can have them look back on and, and see this is a successful program for them to participate in and helps their kids along through the, through the way.
▶ 31:58 Speaker 5: Agreed. Thank you.
▶ 32:00 Speaker 2: Okay. Any other questions? If not, that concludes finance and facilities. Thank you very much.