DPSCD Revamps Special Education Department, What Parents Need to Know

Detroit Public Schools Community District plans to consolidate more special education classrooms into fewer schools this fall. 

The plans might be a welcome change for some students who have been forced to move from school to school. The district says a student in Northwest Detroit might for example change schools four times from early childhood to graduation. 

In many cases, the old system also forced students to endure long bus rides.

To address this problem, the district has proposed a revamp to its Exceptional Student Education (ESE) department. The plan is to move from 174 classrooms in 60 schools to 185 classrooms in 38 schools across the district.

Detroit district facing challenges in educating students with disabilities 

During the pandemic, ESE enrollment across the district dropped by 1,505 students, hitting 6,884 at the lowest point. Now, enrollment numbers have crept back up with a projected enrollment up to 7,708 for the current year. 

The district added more ESE classrooms at schools to address the increase in enrollment, but these classrooms lacked continuity. Nearly half the schools did not offer K-8 education, so students needed to switch from school to school as they moved through the grades.

The district was bussing 2,718 ESE students almost 1 million miles a year with a cost of $22 million annually. 

To make matters worse, practically all the ESE staff including therapists, nurses and social workers were split between schools. Ancillary staff had to commute from school to school, limiting the amount of time they can spend working with students. 

These, as well as other challenges, have prompted the district to make a change to its ESE programming. 

Changes to the Detroit district’s Exceptional Student Education department 

The district intends for the consolidation plan to solve some of the challenges it has faced in the past.

By moving more classrooms into fewer schools, the district says it will be able to fully staff each classroom, reduce travel time for students and staff, offer programming five days a week, keep PreK-8 students at their school and increase wrap-around services. 

There will also be new benefits, including increased supplemental services for families and staff. The Detroit district shared some of the changes to staffing in its powerpoint presentation:  

• An additional ESE certified Assistant Principal to supervise the programs.
• Fully assigned ESE ancillary staff including social workers, occupational therapists, speech therapists and nurses. 
• Additional ESE Paraprofessional to cover absences and/or support crisis response.
• Additional Parent Outreach Coordinator to engage and support ESE families.
• Locations with emotional impairment programs will also receive additional behavior support.

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