We continue to have a significant increase in students with severe disabilities in our district. Our monthly special education count is at an all-time high of 269 students. Because of this we have had to provide additional staff support and serve some severely emotional/behavioral disabled students at Fir Grove, Serendipity Center, and 49th St. Academy, which are day treatment centers. I have been working on our safety net applications for the 2015-16 school year these last couple months.
This year we are submitting to the state, for additional funding for 15 high need special education students for over $250,000. Just to give you a reference, in the past our highest request has been $89,000. This money helps support those high cost students. There is a tremendous amount of work that goes into applying for these dollars and I appreciate the work of my safety net review team which includes: Jenn Barry-School Psychologist, Devon Hillman, Diverse Support Program Teacher, Lisa Elliott-Diverse Support Program Teacher, Lorie Vogel, Diverse Support Program Teacher, Felecia Chavez, Diverse Support Program Teacher, Michelle McLaughlin-Special Services Secretary and Devon Fliss-WHS Resource Room Teacher.