Students with disabilities to be moved to general classroom over 4-year plan

More students with special needs in Manatee County schools will be shifted from self-contained classrooms into general education classrooms, and the district is taking a close look at the therapy services students are being offered over the next few years.

The School Board of Manatee County received an overview of the district’s exceptional student education plan for the next four years at Tuesday night’s board meeting.

The shifts come in order to ensure students with special needs spend more time in general education classes, in light of Manatee’s struggling graduation rate for ESE students and the state’s decision to eliminate the special diploma.

Wylene Herring-Cayasso, the director of ESE in the district, stressed that the shift would not impact students who are so cognitively disabled that they require a self-contained classroom.

Superintendent Diana Greene said the changes had been put into motion based on previous years’ Local Educator Agency Profile. She said the district was hoping that by progressively easing more elementary school ESE students into general education classes, the transition would be smoother.

“We know this will be challenging because change just is. We have been taking baby steps,” Greene said. “As you see it is a four-year plan. Some districts just turn the light on and say we’re doing inclusion.”

Cynthia Saunders, deputy superintendent for instructional services, said the transition would mean more ESE teachers in general-education classrooms. According to the district, some ESE teachers have up to six different grade levels in their self-contained classrooms at one time. Shifting more students into general education classes would diminish the chances that an ESE teacher has to balance such an array of students at once.

Board elections

The board also voted to revisit the debate over single-member district school board elections versus at-large elections during its Tuesday night meeting.

Board member Karen Carpenter proposed to revisit the issue.

On Feb. 14, Carpenter opposed a resolution to hold a referendum during the 2018 general election on whether board members should be voted in at-large elections or in single-member district elections. On Tuesday she said she had changed her mind.

“Do we trust people who don’t trust us?” board member Dave Miner asked the board, arguing for a referendum. “We need the community to trust us, so we need trust them.”

The board will revisit the issue at the March 14 meeting.

This story was originally published February 28, 2017 at 9:23 PM with the headline "Students with disabilities to be moved to general classroom over 4-year plan."