Massachusetts

Based on a proposal being crafted by Joyce Blackburn, executive director of special education and student services, and Lawrence Finnerty, hired by the district to serve as a project manager for the program, the school would serve 24 students in Grades 6 through 8 and be housed in the former Stone School on Globe Street.

Current plans have the school operational for the start of school in September, however, the plan first needs School Committee approval, which will be addressed at the June 14 meeting. If that group approves the plan it would then need to be vetted by the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

As currently proposed, the school would be staffed by teachers from the school district. The therapeutic component would be provided through Walker Therapeutic, which in addition to running a kindergarten to Grade 8 school in Needham offers consultant services. Plans include phasing out Walker’s services over time.

Finnerty, who currently serves on the New Bedford School Committee and is a former administrator in that school department, said students will be provided with a rigorous educational component that will keep students “actively engaged in instruction” rather than just providing busy work. A full array of co-curricular classes such as art and physical education would be provided and students would also be exposed to computer classes and career exploration programs.

Finnerty went on to call the therapeutic component of the school as a “critical aspect of the program.”

“This will provide a safe and supportive environment that will allow the students to make social and academic progress,” Finnerty said.

He also said having a successful therapeutic piece is critical in getting students to buy into the program. Without it, Finnerty said, students will challenge authority.

Operating a program will come with cost that Blackburn and Finnerty have preliminarily pegged at $815,000. Of that cost, staffing, which includes five teachers and paraprofessionals, a nurse, secretary, custodian, behaviorists and clinicians, would account for the majority of the cost at $694,000.

The initial cost of the program is being covered through American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds. Regulations associated with the funding required the district to spend at least half of what was allocated to the city for investment purposes.

The cost of running the program could be offset through savings presented by educating students within the city rather than paying tuition to private institutions. Those savings are currently estimated at $432,344.

The new school would give the district the ability to continue in-district services for special education students through the middle school level. Similar services are currently offered at the elementary level through a program housed in the Boys and Girls Club.

Blackburn said the parents of prospective students have not yet been contacted as they were waiting until the plan had initial approved before moving forward, but that process may be accelerated to ensure the school can be filled.