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The Special Education Program in the District continues to grow. We currently serve over 1,800 students. Our per pupil expenditure rate is second highest within the SELPA. The District is committed to serving the diverse needs of its students. To this end we have added a new psychologist and hired another assistant to support the language and speech program.
Several teachers were sent to be trained in a new reading program which helps students who are experiencing difficulty in this area. We trained a new staff member for assistive technology and plan to continue training in this area. As a result of a summer workshop, an assistive technologist expert will be sharing with our staff the latest developments in this area. There will be a SELPA (special education local plan area) Autism project that will be ongoing for the next two year. The goal of the project is for each district to train a team of individuals who can specialize in the needs of this population and offer support to other teachers. We are proud that our program specialist was instrumental in developing this training that will bring in teams from the entire County of Los Angeles. We will also send a team to the legal issues consortium to learn about the newest legislation that affects our program. Our district will also lend our support to the community advisory council which meets quarterly.
This year our District will be participating in several specialized projects. WESTAT is a federal project that is investigating the current teacher shortage in special education. The project is designed to look at training needs of special education personnel and ameliorate the current shortage of qualified teachers. The University of Oregon will be conducting a computerized learning study for students with learning disabilities. Sierra Vista Junior High will take the lead on this project which has a success rate of reducing learning difficulties by forty-seven percent. The entire District will participate in focus monitoring by the State Department of Education -- special education division. This study will allow us to examine our service delivery to special education students and develop solutions for any areas that need improvement, such as increasing the number of students taking the statewide exams.
If you have any questions about special education or our programs, please give us a call.
If you would like to reach me by e-mail, please contact:
Marty Lieberman
Director of Special Education
William S. Hart Union High School District
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