Westwood presents special education progress: staffing changes, preschool expansion, contracted autism review and MTSS rollout

At the June 4 meeting Westwood School Committee members heard a detailed update on steps the district has taken in response to a January special education review and discussed operational next steps.

Caitlyn and Lori summarized work across eight review areas. Key actions already taken include: allocating 0.5 FTE to elementary student services staffing and restructuring department‑head roles so there will be separate full‑time student‑services positions covering (a) Pine Hill, (b) Downey/Martha Jones/Sheen and (c) preschool districtwide; adding a psychologist FTE at Pine Hill to better balance caseloads; and planning district legal‑counsel training for administrators in late June.

The district will expand preschool capacity by opening a fourth integrated preschool classroom at Downey and relocating one preschool intensive program from Pine Hill to Downey for the next school year. Lori said the contracting process is underway for an external, specialized review of the district’s intensive autism program with records review and on‑site visits beginning in December 2026 and a final report expected by April 2027.

On staffing and retention, the committee learned a tentative collective bargaining agreement consolidating instructional assistants (IA) and ABA tutors into one union was reached in late May and ratified by the union membership; the committee subsequently ratified it. Changes include restructured wage scales, holiday pay folded into base wages to make posted rates more competitive, annualized pay for ABA tutors to stabilize summer pay, restored longevity pay (paid after a full school year), and an expanded IA work year of 183 days to allow for additional professional development.

Lori and Caitlyn also described ongoing efforts on executive functioning professional development (PD) and building the MTSS framework: IAS and ABAs will receive targeted PD (leveraging newly available contract days and compensated early‑release Wednesdays), and the district plans districtwide PD days with keynote and educator‑led sessions to embed universal design for learning and executive‑functioning strategies. The district is conducting a comprehensive caseload and workload analysis with an internal report expected by June 30 and has begun mapping tiered interventions and a district curriculum accommodation plan (DECAP) for targeted implementation next school year.

Why it matters: The operational steps aim to stabilize services for students with disabilities, reduce reliance on contracted providers, and expand inclusive preschool options. The external autism review seeks recommendations implementable in a public‑school setting and is scheduled with a multi‑month timeline.

What’s next: Hiring and interview processes for revised student‑services roles are ongoing; the caseload analysis report is due June 30; the contracted autism review will begin records work in December 2026 and on‑site visits in January 2027 with final recommendations in April 2027.