J-D triumphs in special education programs

The Jamesville-DeWitt school system’s special education program has met the state’s goals and has a long-term plan of action to better the education offered to students enrolled in the district’s program.

J-D Pupil Personnel Services Office Director Christine Sypher and Assistant Director Sheila Woltman came to the Nov. 3 J-D School Board meeting in order to give an overview of the special education services offered by the district.

“Federal regulations require that school district’s reach certain performance targets for students with disabilities,” Sypher said. “States are required to report publicly on every district’s progress measured for those targets. We are currently being measured on 2006-07 data.”

The state’s first goal is to ensure that the graduation rate of students with disabilities within the district is met.

“The state’s goal was 35 percent,” Sypher said. “J-D’s graduation rate was at 70 percent.”

The second goal was to ensure that the dropout rate be lower than 20 percent for students with disabilities. J-D had zero dropouts during this time period, Sypher said.

Achieving Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) – a component of No Child Left Behind – between third and eighth grades is the state’s third goal. Sypher said that the state standards for the English/language arts section is a score of 96 and a math score of 103. J-D passed these goals with scores of 114 in English/language arts and 122 in math.

J-D offers what Sypher called a continuum of services. Within the program, teachers are highly trained, there’s an integration of co-teaching services and the district offers home/hospital instruction.

Also at the meeting, Woltman highlighted the different disabilities within the district. The largest disability within the program is the 163 students who have a learning disability. Other non-specified health-related disabilities were second on the list with 96 students.

Fifty-eight students have speech and language impairment, while 25 are autistic, Woltman said.

Though this may seem like a high number, Woltman said that J-D’s total number of students enrolled in special education is lower than the state’s average. J-D’s classification rate is at 10.35 percent, while New York is at 12.4 percent.

“The rate in J-D is much lower than average,” Woltman said. “This has to do with the quality of teachers and interventions, which help to make this low.”

Considering the district’s success with special education, Sypher and Woltman highlighted the district’s long-term goals. Over the next three to five years, the plans include assuring that all students accessing special education receive a high quality standards-based curriculum, technological support for learning, a comprehensive instructional delivery system and are guaranteed high quality literacy instruction, Woltman said.

At the meeting, board member Jack McLoughlin said that he gives all the credit to Woltman and Sypher for their much-needed analysis.

“I give you (both) a lot of credit,” McLoughlin said. “You looked at achievement gaps and other districts and you found out the important details that are needed.”

Superintendent’s report
Superintendent Alice Kendrick gave an update on the search for a new principal for Moses-DeWitt Elementary School.

“We have one more week for applicants to apply,” Kendrick said. “So far, we have 17 applicants. Some of which are experienced principals. We also expect as we get closer to our deadline, it is likely to get a larger number of applications.”

The timeline for naming a new principal is on track, Kendrick said. The first interviews will take place next week, with the second round around Thanksgiving.

Parents and teachers have submitted their input on the expectations for the new principal, Kendrick said.
Kendrick also informed the board that J-D won an award from the National Safety Council for the Alive at 25 program. The council recently presented the district with the plaque and award. Kendrick said that none of this could have happened without DeWitt Chief of Police Eugene Conway or Investigator John Anton.

“We initiated the program and were awarded because I think we are the first high school in the country to motivate students on driving before issuing a student parking pass,” Kendrick said. “It’s a win-win situation all around. It’s an acknowledgment of our work and as a result our kids are safer.”

In other news:
Approximately 50 parents showed up to an impromptu meeting regarding the annual Jamesville Elementary School fourth grade trip to Albany.

On Oct. 29, Kendrick and JES Principal Mary Sylvester addressed the upcoming Albany field trip changes to a group of heated parents in the JES cafeteria.

At the meeting, Sylvester highlighted the eight planned field trips for fourth graders this year, but the parents only seemed interested in Sylvester’s resolution regarding the Albany trip. The meeting came about as a result of the Oct. 20 J-D school board meeting, where JES parents voiced their opinions on the trip’s changes.

“The decision is already made up,” Sylvester said. “It will be an extended day field trip. We decided that we are going to take away the overnight component of it. But we’re still able to give the children all the components of the trip. They will still go to the New York state museum, tour the governor’s mansion and capitol.”

The main reasoning behind the changes to the trip is because the school wants to ensure that every child is included. Sylvester told parents about students who have struggled to go overnight and needed counseling in the past. She also addressed how some students need special attention throughout the night, which is hard for district chaperones to provide.

Sylvester and Kendrick both said that excluding children is illegal and neither would let that happen.

“It’s illegal,” Kendrick said. “This is a curriculum thing and we cannot un-invite students. So we are trying to accommodate all students and it’s a hard task. Inclusion of all students is an important piece.”

Only two kids didn’t attend the trip last year, Sylvester said. This made several parents voice their anger that such a small number of students could affect the entire trip.

“I’d hate for my kids to miss out because of two students,” said an angry mother of a fourth grader. “Ninety percent of the kids will miss out.”

Another reason that the change occurred is because the district potentially may not be able to find enough male chaperones, Sylvester added.

“As superintendent, I am not comfortable with sending kids on our trip without sufficient male supervision,” Kendrick said.

Even though the trip is being changed, Sylvester promised parents that the students would still participate in the entire experience.

“When we look at field trips we are going to extend what the kids learn in the classroom and extend them on these trips,” Sylvester said. “On the Albany trip, they will see things on the trip that they have seen in their textbooks.”

However, one parent documented the time duration of events and said that it would be impossible to participate in half of last year’s schedule given the new schedule.

Yet, to the fourth grade parents’ dismay, the decision is “already made up,” regarding the trip, Sylvester said.

“Field trips come recommended from the administrators and teachers involved,” Kendrick said. “I’m 100 percent confident in the staff here and, if that is the decision of the staff, then it’s the decision that we’re doing.”

Though most of the parents were upset with the decision, Sylvester said that she needs to ensure that the parents and staff stand behind her.

“I apologize that you all are unhappy with the process, but I want to move forward,” Sylvester said. “I hope we can move forward now.”

Darren Benda is a journalism major studying at Syracuse University. He is a regular contributing writer for the Eagle Newspapers.

CATEGORY: General Society
TAGS: jamesville, dewitt, district, board, meeting
EDITION: Eagle Bulletin

Permalink Archive

Talk to Us!