A 'Productive Year' for Medfield's Department of Pupil Services

Medfield’s Department of Pupil Services had a “positive and productive year,” according to director Matthew LaCava as the department revised the Pupil Services Manual, developed a continuum of services for students and provided professional development for teachers.

LaCava presented the end of the year report for the Department of Pupil Services to the Medfield School Committee at its June 20th meeting.

One of the department's main focuses this year, according to LaCava, was revising and updating the Pupil Services Manual.

“The Pupil Services Staff Manual is related to all the pupil service staff, including nursing, guidance and special educators,” LaCava said. “In the past, it has been an informative binder of materials that you can use as a reference tool but what we wanted to do as a department was turn it into more of a training tool so every person in the department can have it at their disposal throughout the year.”

LaCava's report said different staff members contributed to revising the manual throughout the year and the end product, created roughly a month ago, contains materials related to the special education evaluation process, transition services, tutoring, home/hospital services and “many other areas.”

“What it turned into is what we envisioned,” LaCava said of the manual. “It’s going to be much more of a training tool, where it’s not just information but kind of ‘how-tos.’”

LaCava said a “walkthrough” of the manual will take place with all pupil services staff at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year.

“In addition, all new staff hired into the department will be provided with the manual and undergo a training,” LaCava said. “This [manual] was a great accomplishment.”

Another area of focus this year was professional development.

“Staff attended conferences focused on the Wilson Reading Program, Edmark, Using Sensory Strategies in the Classroom and the Social Thinking Curriculum,” LaCava’s report said. “Within the district, training occurred in the areas of 504 plans, eligibility determination, the IEP process and the difference between accommodations vs. modifications for students.”

Staff also received training on Bullying Intervention and how the Bullying Plan and Regulations specifically relate to students on IEPs.

"We spent time going over the district's bullying plan and policies not only for all students but those on IEPs as well," LaCava said.

The department also looked into the continuum of services delivery and LaCava said that effort “culminated into a really great situation.”

“A group of us took a really long look at the continuum services in the district for students on IEPs, with the amount of transitions that we have in the buildings and the variations of levels that we have,” LaCava said. “We wanted to assure that we have staffing to fit the needs of the kids. We looked at what staffing we have and what student profiles we have and how can we match those together to assure that we keep all the students in Medfield and continue that philosophy of inclusion.”

The department spent “considerable” time assessing the programming and service delivery model and as a result, will reorganize at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year to allow for a broader range of services for students, according to the report.

A Certified Special Education teacher as well as a Moderate Special Needs certified teacher will be present in each building, grades kindergarten through eighth.

“This is an important step in ensuring students are receiving the services they need,” the report said. “The reorganization was completed without any additional funds added to the budget.”

Looking forward to next year and beyond in the department, LaCava said every six years the Department of Elementary Education and Secondary Education conduct a program review of the district, which includes Special Education and Civil Rights. That sixth year, according to LaCava, is “next year” but the way the review works is in a two-phase process.

The first phase, which the department worked on this past year, reviews the 25 student files in Medfield Public Schools and provides the DESE with the documentation for all the criteria: documentation to demonstrate compliance in 37 Special Education and 26 Civil Rights areas.

The second phase, which will be completed next school year, according to LaCava’s report, will include a team of four members of the Program Quality Assurance department of the DESE coming to review additional student files, visit schools and interview staff members at each building as well as parents.

LaCava credited his “dedicated staff” and a “supportive community” for a productive year with the department.