New Westborough Special Education Director Excited About Challenge

New Westborough Public Schools Pupil Personnel Services Director Sherrie Stevens thinks about students in three places at the same time.

Students in the district, students finishing their schooling, and students entering the system in the next three to five years must be considered when planning to allocate Westborough's special education resoures, Stevens says.

"We tend to sometimes have cycles of students with particular disabilities. We grow the program, but they go away after a year or two," she said during a recent interview in her office.

"(School officials need to make) sure that they have a continuum of support. Sometimes, those gaps really can be difficult."

The Westborough public schools' first day of school is Wednesday. Friday is an early release day for students.

Stevens comes to Westborough after five years as director of pupil services for the Spencer-East Brookfield Regional School District.

Westborough represents "an exciting new challenge" coming from "smaller towns and districts," she said.

"In my three-to-five-year plan (in Spencer-East Brookfield), I really felt like I had accomplished a lot, and built a very strong team," Stevens said.

"I was looking for a district that really is rich in education and very progressive, so that I could continue to grow as a professional."

The Barre native said she began her career at Devereux Massachusetts in Rutland. She spent nearly 14 years there. She was a team chairperson, "making sure that the individual education programs were in place," she said.

Stevens joined the Quabbin Regional School District in 2000, serving initially as special projects coordinator for the superintendent.

She pursued her principal certification, and then served as interim principal for three years. "At the time, the district was undergoing their coordinated program review by the state," so she "moved back to special ed to help superintendent."

Westborough already has impressed Stevens.

"What's striking for me is just the commitment of the folks that I've met so far: the educational team for special ed, the resources that are available to support students with disabilities, and the programs that have been developed - and I look forward to continuing to develop -- in terms of creating a strong continuum for students so that they can be educated in their local community," she said.

Stevens said examples of existing programs include some focused on autism, and "very intensive needs that would otherwise need to go out and be educated in the private sector."

Stevens said she developed a life skills program in the Spencer-East Brookfield district.

also has one, she noted. She said she's "looking at the continuation of that as more for students who we do have until they're 22. More of that independent work opportunity, vocational opportunity in the community."

"I think that Westborough, there would be a number of resources to tap into for that," she said.