Director outlines missed‑service tracking; committee directs meeting with CPAC after transparency concerns

The district’s Director of Student Services, Matt Holloway, presented a new intake and reporting process for missed special‑education services at the School Committee meeting on Feb. 12.

Holloway described how building administrators log missed services into an online form when coverage cannot be provided (noting the data captures service type: group paraeducator, 1:1 paraeducator, special‑education teacher, speech/language, etc.). A biweekly review identifies students who meet district thresholds — defined as missing services for 3 or more consecutive days or 5 or more days total in a review window — and triggers quality checks and outreach: building principals verify entries and families are contacted to schedule IEP team meetings to determine whether compensatory services (documented via an N1) are needed.

Public commenters — led by the child‑find and caregiver group CPAC — told the committee they remain concerned that the district’s reporting metrics undercount missed services and called for greater transparency. CPAC leadership said families perceive missed IEP services as more widespread than the district’s public reporting suggests and urged the committee to exercise oversight.

Director Holloway responded that the district captures individual missed‑service entries (and that the spreadsheet mock‑up he showed is how the data looks when collected), but he warned that aggregating an accurate denominator or producing a single district‑wide “minutes missed” number is not straightforward without additional staff to reconcile differing service durations, schedules and program models across schools. He said the system was designed to identify students at risk of harm from missed services and to ensure teams consider compensatory services.

After extended discussion, the committee adopted a motion (moved by Member Martin, seconded and later amended) directing the superintendent to have Director Holloway meet with CPAC to provide the data CPAC requested — subject to strict prohibitions on releasing personally identifiable information. The motion passed on a roll call vote; members asked the administration and CPAC to collaborate on refining what data can be shared publicly and how to produce school‑level trend reporting that protects student privacy.

Outcome and next steps: Director Holloway and the superintendent were directed to meet with CPAC before the next school committee meeting and to return with clarified reporting options and recommended formats for non‑identifying school‑level trend reports. The committee stressed that any data shared publicly must not include personal identifiers for students or staff.