Saugus School Committee briefed on Special Ed

SAUGUS — Dawn Trainor, the school district’s director of pupil personnel and administrator of special education, updated the School Committee on developments at her department this summer.

Trainor told the committee that the state Department of Education’s Office of Public School Monitoring has found that the district’s Special Education Department is in full compliance with the state’s standards.

“I didn’t expect to open tonight with what I am going to open with, but I am very, very excited with the news that I have to share with you,” Trainor said.

Trainor explained that her department goes through tiered focus monitoring approximately every three years, when its performance is compared to the state’s legal standards and regulations for special education.

“They want to see how public districts are doing in meeting all of those regulations,” Trainor said.

The office’s report, Trainor said, contains 37 criteria, which she said have all been met for Saugus Public Schools.

“We have had a ‘no finding,’ which means we are in full compliance,” Trainor said. “I am very, very proud of that.”

Trainor said that the full compliance is due to a large collective effort and “a lot of really hard work, from a lot of people.”

“I’m just so proud of it, and I just wanted to share it,” Trainor said.

She said that as there is a large number of criteria associated with compliance to the guidelines, she did not want to list all of them at the meeting.

“I think people really need to understand the amount of work that we do to make sure that we’re doing right by (the) Saugus community and Saugus students,” Trainor said. “We have met the legal standard, and this is just a great day for Saugus.”

Additionally, Trainor shared updates on the district’s Extended School Year (ESY) program, which is held in the summer.

The goal of the program, Trainor said, is to “prevent substantial regression in students with individualized education plans.”

Trainor said that this year, there were tutoring services along with the programming, as well as compensatory services.

“We had quite a bustling summer,” Trainor said.

Jodi Reynolds-Dalley, the Extended School Year program director, has been working alongside Trainor in the role for three years.

“She’s amazing, she puts a lot of work into this,” Trainor said of Reynolds-Dalley before showing a slideshow of the “ESY Olympics,” showcasing students participating in activities such as ring toss and bowling.

Trainor said that while the games were fun for the students, they also helped promote cognitive functioning and motor skills.

Older students were taken on a trip to Prince Pizzeria to enjoy some pizza, on the house.

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