Marple Newtown Proposes Study for Special Education Move Out of Russell

NEWTOWN SQUARE — Marple Newtown administrators asked the school board Tuesday night for permission to spend the winter studying whether to open an intensive emotional support program at Loomis Elementary, with the goal of moving the program out of Russell Elementary entirely over two years.

No vote was taken — Tuesday was a committee meeting — and the board will take the item up at its Oct. 27 voting meeting.

Assistant Superintendent Dr. Kevin Fagan, who presented the request, twice stressed the narrowness of what he was asking for.

“I just want to be clear up front: what we are requesting tonight is not permission to implement a program at Loomis,” he said. “It’s board approval to conduct a study of the possibility of that over the winter months, basically, and we’ll come back in the spring with what we have found.”

What the program is, and isn’t

The district offers intensive special education services in three areas — autistic support, emotional support, and life skills — at two of its four elementary schools. Russell currently hosts two of them: the intensive emotional support program and the life skills program.

About 12 students are in the emotional support program now. Some will age out to middle school this year, which would leave a projected seven next year, though Fagan said students can still enter the program during the current year and the realistic number for next year is 10 to 12.

Asked what a program of 12 students spread across kindergarten through fifth grade actually looks like day to day, Fagan explained it was a program threaded into the general working of the school.

“Often people hear that this is a solitary program, full-time program where we have a room and children are there all day,” he said. “That is not what we’re talking about. If we were to walk through Russell tomorrow, you really wouldn’t know the children that have that diagnosis from the regular education children. They are in homerooms, they’re going to classes, going to specials, going to lunch, all of those things.”

What differs, he said, is that the students “do have a tendency to certain behaviors. The triggers range from one thing to many things, and our staff is trained to respond to those things in the moment, in real time, and our goal is to get those children back to the regular education classroom as soon as possible.”

Not every elementary student identified with an emotional disturbance ends up in the program, he added. Many stay at their home school. “They receive special education services, they flourish, they do very well, and we can program for them at their home schools.” Only when programming at the home school is no longer feasible — a decision made by the principal, the parents and the IEP team — does a student move to Russell.

The program is staffed by one full-time teacher and a registered behavioral technician. The technician is assigned full-time to Russell but splits time between the emotional support and life skills programs.

Why move it

Fagan’s case rested less on Loomis than on Russell.

“We think that this plan is what’s best for students. We think that it is time. We think it’s best for Russell,” he said. “Quite frankly, we think it’s good for Loomis as well. We have the space there. We believe that we can have the resources lined up. And if we make this program shift, it is a more equitable use of our elementary facilities.”

Then, more plainly: “Currently, we have two programs at Russell. That is proving to be a lot for that staff and for that building.”

The study would examine space, budget and staffing. It would also look at training for the full faculty.

“When you move a program into an elementary school, those are everybody’s students,” Fagan said. “Those students belong to the school, to all of the teachers.”

If the board approves the study, staff would be notified at both Russell and Loomis, along with involved families. Placement decisions made this year would come with a warning that the program may move. If a move was implemented, the program would open at Loomis in the fall, with professional development through the winter, spring and summer, and IEP meetings for transitioning families.

The board expressed no issues with a study, and will vote on whether or not to conduct one at the next regular meeting later this month.

Summer Updates

The district’s operations director delivered a report on summer capital work, which touched every building.

Districtwide, exterior windows were numbered to match the district’s emergency maps — something Marple and Newtown Township police have been pressing for over three years. New cameras went in across the district, replacing units 10 to 15 years old; the district now has more than 330.

Lead testing of drinking fountains and cafeteria faucets has moved from a three-year cycle to an annual one. Fire alarms, extinguishers, sprinklers, school buses, roofs and HVAC equipment all received their annual inspections. Crews laid more than 160 yards of playground mulch across the elementary schools and prepared more than 140 acres of landscaping and athletic fields.

Worrall Elementary is the district’s largest project and it has a long way to go. Phases one and two are complete. Modular classrooms, storm basins, parking and parent drop-off lanes are all set up, along with a temporary kitchen in the gym. Phase three brings a new classroom and wing addition, a cafeteria addition and new HVAC. Phases three through five run concurrently rather than in sequence.

Asked when it ends, the operations director said the district is “hoping to be done come September,” but that’s not a hard deadline because students can stay in the modulars. The fallback is a November or December completion, and he described the expectation as a “winter turnover.” Everything, he said, is currently on schedule.

Worrall’s kindergarten playground is also moving. Its current site will become the new classroom addition. The new playground will go behind the gymnasium, onto what is now a basketball court, and reuse existing equipment. The court will be shifted. A playground for grades one through five will be behind the modular classrooms, close to its current location.

Russell Elementary got fresh paint through hallways, bathrooms and common areas, wall matting in special education classrooms, and a boiler room renovation. Every hallway classroom door now has an electronic lock with swipe access for teachers and staff.

Paxon Hollow Middle School received a new cooling tower, a new boiler, three rooftop units and a new gas meter serving the kitchen and grounds department. The public address system was replaced, as were the clocks, and the main office and guidance suite were redone with new carpet, paint and LED lighting.

Marple Newtown High School got a new hot water heater, a restriped parking lot, new lighting at the football stadium, and sanded floors in the gym, auditorium and auxiliary gym.

The bus garage renovation, two years in the making, added two 10,000-gallon fuel tanks, a paved bus lot, new fencing with electronic gates, LED lighting and maintenance garage updates. The administration parking lot was extended for a few more spaces.

On the Oct. 27 agenda

A $25,500 districtwide facility study. These are recommended to be done roughly every five years, and provide one, three and five-year outlooks on major capital projects for the board to review in the spring.

A $33,500 five-year extended warranty on the chiller at Paxon Hollow Middle School, through a COSTARS contract and paid from Capital Reserve.

Three commercial tax assessment appeals, recommended by the district solicitor. The properties were not named.

An agreement with the Delaware County Industrial Development Authority tied to a state Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program grant the district applied for. Because a school district cannot receive the money directly, the county authority will take the funds, file a second application on the district’s behalf, and pass the money through. Neither the amount nor the project was stated.

New band uniforms to replace the 12-year-old ones at Marple Newtown High School, funded from the assigned fund balance approved last May.

A districtwide donation from the Tiger Foundation for art, band, choir and orchestra.

Business Administrator Dominick DuVernois also told the board he expects a draft of the district’s annual audit next month. It has been reviewed, he said, and is waiting only on the release of a federal regulation before it can formally come to the board.

The board approved nothing Tuesday and heard no public comment. It met in executive session beforehand on personnel and legal matters.