DELHI — Monday’s Delaware Academy school board meeting included planning for summer, as well as thanks for a successful school year. There was discussion about sports mergers and a special education update.
The first item was a presentation from Director of Special Education Winsome Zinkievich, who gave an update on the district's progress this academic year. Starting the meeting was a discussion on the District's strategic goals for the 2024-2025 school year. The first goal was Quality Special Education Programming, which included a quarterly review of progress notes, a quarterly review of iReady benchmark data, a state testing review, analyzing program needs, and creating an 8:1:1 room in the elementary school, which included parents calling to compliment the teacher involved.
"It's nice to see that we moved in the right direction," she said.
The next goal was Fiscal Responsibility, for which she said there was a further quarterly review of data, discussions about future programming news, and work with the elementary and secondary principals on scheduling to "ensure projected student needs." This included options for some students to attend BOCES and offering other alternatives. The third goal was professional development, including in-house programs "focused on special education topics and interventions." The last goal was family and community engagement, which included increasing Special Education communication with parents, including friendly reminders before meetings.
The district currently has 21 preschool students with disabilities, she said. There are 153 school-aged students with IEPs and 61 who have 504 plans. Zinkievich cited students from outside of the district, including three at the Children's Home of Wyoming in Binghamton, one at DCMO BOCES for full-day special education, two at Springbrook Day School in Oneonta, one at Walton Central School, and one at Oneonta High School.
Currently, 20.9% of students have IEPs, the highest level in a decade. This is higher than the February 2024 rate of 18.5% and a recent low of 14.5% in 2021-2022. Some of the students with IEPs are graduating this year, she said. Furthermore, some students with referrals are entering the special education program, which Zinkievich said could be a sign of better identification of needs. The Special Education Department has also taken special care to continue its improvement plan, including using data to identify student achievement trends and determine needs to support learners.
One resident brought up concerns about what he called a "breakdown of communication." He said that his son had been "spotlighted" twice in a teacher's classroom, which led him to feel "shamed." After reaching out to the teacher, the teacher said that the grade was based on a video assignment. The parent followed up but said that he did not receive a response again from the teacher. He was then contacted by a member of the administration, while the son was discouraged by the teacher's response. After a further request for a meeting, the parent said that he was told that the "meeting was not necessary." He called this a "lack of communication that's unacceptable." He cited the amount of property tax paid by the family and sought information from the District.
When asked further about the bell-to-bell phone policy for the following school year, it was stated there will be further discussion next Wednesday, which is open for observation but not direct public feedback at this point. The board said that there had been previous public input meetings.
There were a number of personnel moves. This included the retirement of Herman Bugge effective the end of this month. There was also the rescinding of retirement for Kelly Pinter. Kiley Lamoreaux resigned as school counselor to take a position elsewhere, effective Aug. 27. There were also a number of miscellaneous appointments, including Kaleb Ambrose, Bryce Burrows, Ryan Burrows, Steven Hillis, William Hillis, William