Director of Special Services: Progress Made Toward Compliance

Members of the and the public heard about the steps being taken to correct areas of non-compliance within the district's special education department Thursday night.

Director of Special Services Robert Cerco went through all 27 areas that needed corrective action according to the state monitoring report and explained how district personnel have addressed, and continue to address, the issues.

He first explained that while 27 areas of non-compliance might seem like a large number, there are more than 350 indicators with which districts are judged. He said during the on-site monitoring visit 16 months ago, the district was 92 percent compliant.

The indicators are broken down into nine categories, five of which the Westwood Regional School District was deemed fully compliant. The four areas that require corrective action are least restrictive environment, parent involvement, evaluations and reevaluations and developing IEPs (Individualized Education Programs).

Cerco said that most of the corrective action was necessary because proper procedures weren't being followed, 18 of the 27 areas, and in the remaining cases the district didn't have a procedure in place to ensure compliance.

Additional policies were implemented where needed and additional training, or retraining, was administered to ensure proper procedures were being followed, according to Cerco.

He stressed training throughout his presentation, saying that it is done at all levels, including administrators and teachers. He also said that the three-day IEP, which was implemented three years ago, has helped ensure compliance. Cerco explained that there was not always administrative oversight when IEPs were written. With the three-day IEP, a draft must be submitted to the director of special services or the supervisor to be reviewed for compliance. He said now principals are also involved in that process.

Other areas of non-compliance had to do with what Cerco deemed "sloppy paperwork." He said the report found the district did not get signed consent from parents to perform evaluations. Copies of evaluation reports were also not always mailed home.

Cerco said he found that teachers and case managers were not meeting about the IEPs and teachers were just acknowledging they read the documents with a signature. "This boggled my mind," he said. He explained that he established face to face meetings within the first two weeks of school so that the case manager has to meet with each of the child's teachers to review the IEP.

The next on-site monitoring will take place in December, according to Cerco. He said the report could come sometime in June 2012. In the meantime, he said the corrective action steps will still be taken and the district will continue to move toward achieving compliance in all areas.

For Cerco's PowerPoint presentation, click here.