BLANDFORD – The Gateway School Committee met on the road in Blandford on Wednesday, as part of its program to travel to member towns for meetings every summer and fall.
Kurt Garivaltis, director of pupil services for Gateway, gave a short presentation to the committee on the initial findings of the CPR (Coordinated Program Review) which Gateway underwent in March. The CPR is conducted every six years by the Department of Elementary and Second Education (DESE), and looks at special education, English Learner Education (ELE), and civil rights. A draft report was issued at the end of July.
Garivaltis, who began in the district in July, said he would be reporting mainly on the work that was done before he started. He said of the 59 special education criteria, Gateway had no issues with 50 of them, but 9 require district action. Of the 18 ELE criteria, 17 showed no issues, with 1 requiring district action. Of the 26 civil rights criteria, 21 showed no issues, and 5 require action.
Garivaltis said the district has already corrected some of the issues, several of which involved changing the language in school documentation. Garivaltis said in other cases he has requested clarification from DESE, because he believes procedures are being followed.
For example, in special education, students age 14 and over are invited to team meetings along with parents about their educational plans. The corrective action required that separate invitations to the meetings be sent to the students and their parents, which has been resolved. Regarding the school’s response to requests from parents for Independent Educational Evaluations (IEE), Garivaltis said there is clear evidence that Gateway is following procedures.
Another area that Gateway was cited on is not having a Parent Advisory Council (PAC) for special education. Garivaltis said that Gateway has made every effort to form a PAC, but has been unsuccessful. The district applied and received a waiver in the spring, with the condition that it will continue to offer special education workshops for parents.
Gateway was also found to not be adequately training general education staff on special education requirements. Garivaltis said he will be doing the training himself. When he was hired, Garivaltis talked about his four years of experience teaching graduate special education courses to teachers.
Gateway was also cited for the district’s autism specialist, Sean O’Neill, not being certified as a Board Certified Behavior Analyst (BCBA). Garivaltis said O’Neill has one and a half years to complete the certification, which he has begun. The expected date of completion is December of 2017. In the meantime, the district will contract out for a BCBA specialist.
In the area of civil rights, many of the issues have also been resolved, most by changing or eliminating language in school materials. For example, Gateway had a requirement that pregnant students get a physician’s certification, while other students were not required to do so. This language has been eliminated.
All aspects of student discipline were not listed in the handbook. This issue has also been resolved. Another issue that has been resolved involved parents of students 16 & over who leave school, who weren’t receiving all of the required documentation to make them aware of all available services.
The only English Language Education citation was a licensure requirement, citing Gateway for using a speech pathology teacher with one English language learner. After the meeting, Garivaltis said that Gateway has had an influx of ELL students, and had only one ELL teacher. In response, Gateway is hiring an additional ELL/ESL certified teacher. The job posting is available on the district’s website at www.grsd.org.
Garivaltis’ presentation and the draft CPR report are also available on the district website, under School Committee presentations.
Garivaltis said that he anticipates, come springtime, with the exception of the autism certification, that Gateway will be in compliance. He also hopes that some of the issues that have already been resolved will be cleared in the final CPR report, which comes out in mid-October.
