Special Ed Co-op changes mind on one new pre-school site

The Greene-Sullivan Special Education Cooperative administration has listened to concerns a parent recently brought up about planned changes in the developmental pre-school program for next school year.

Last month, the board decided to cut the number of teaching sites from five to three -- one in Greene County and two in Sullivan County.

The Sullivan County sites were set at the time to be at Hymera and Carlisle elementary schools.

However, a revised plan was announced this week.

Under the new plan, the program will be offered at Sullivan and Hymera elementary schools as well as one site in Greene County.

Last week, parent Darrin Graves of Sullivan raised several questions about the Carlisle site for medical and other safety reasons.

His son, Andrew, suffers from a rare genetic syndrome, Loeys-Dietz -- one of about 150 children worldwide.

Graves questioned the availability of adequate medical care at the Carlisle site, noting that paramedic service is not maintained in the community and a full-time school nurse or nurse's aid is not on the school's staff.

Graves also pointed out that his son's state Individual Education Program (IEP) plan calls for a trained crisis team to be on staff at the school.

An IEP is mandated by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA). The IDEA requires public schools to develop an IEP for every student with a disability who is found to meet the federal and state requirements for special education.

Graves also had specific concerns about teacher caseload numbers and how they were going to be determined.

"We looked at a lot of the factors and a lot of the things that the parent brought up so that is all resolved," Greene-Sullivan Special Education Cooperative director Judy Flowers told the Greene County Daily World on Wednesday.

Declining enrollment and a change in state funding caused the cut in five staff and a consolidation of the developmental pre-school program, starting in the fall.

Money is the primary reason the board decided to scale back the number of teachers and merge classroom sites.

The program is currently running at a $120,000 deficit with two months remaining on the fiscal budget year.

Five current pre-school teachers are affected by the reduction in force (RIF) action.

The class changes will affect students ages 3, 4 and 5 enrolled in pre-school special education programs in the Bloomfield, White River Valley, Linton-Stockton, MSD of Shakamak, Northeast Sullivan and Southwest Sullivan school districts.

The Greene County site will be at Shining Stars Pre-School, located at Turning Point Education Center (open to Linton-Stockton, Bloomfield and White River Valley students), one mile east of Switz City.

Hymera Elementary School will be for Hymera and Shakamak students.

Flowers explained that enrollment figures have steadily been declining since 2003, due in part to more stringent regulations to qualify for the program.

In 2003, the early childhood program had 152 students and dropped to 96 in 2008.

Flowers projected there will be about 70 students in the coming school year when all the enrollment is finished.

She said each of the two Sullivan County sites will be staffed by a teacher and three paraprofessionals.

At the Greene County site, there will be a teacher and a paraprofessional aide because enrollment is less than the other two sites, Flowers said.

There is another change coming.

"We were able before to have children without disabilities in the class. It really works out well, but because what we have to do is provide services for children with disabilities. We were including children without disabilities at a real low cost and there is no way that covers the cost of providing services for them so I am not sure we are going to be able to continue to have children without disabilities included," Flowers said.

The director said the board will look at the numbers and cost figures over the summer months and make a final decision closer to the start of next school year in August.

The next board meeting will be at 10:30 a.m. on June 8. The meetings are conducted at 77 A Street NE in Linton.