Batavia, NY: More special ed students; 'Why are we seeing a high level of need?'

April 24, 2025, The Batavian: BCSD works on plan to assist rising numbers of students with disabilities 

Local trends are showing an increased need for mental health care, with more behavioral challenges that lead to emotional disabilities, additional specialized programs, and larger learning gaps between students, Special Education Director Kellie Marciano says.

In 2024, there were 283 students with disabilities at Batavia City Schools versus 287 this year, and “by the end of the year we're going to have more students classified just based on the number of students from the multi-tiered system support that have been referred, as well as some parent referrals,” Marciano said during a report to the school board during its regular meeting this week.

"This year, it is an increase for us, though, from 13% to 14%. The region has a total of about 1,003 students currently classified, with 938 last year. So as a region, we've really been talking a lot about why we're seeing an increase. Why are we seeing a high level of need?” Marciano said. “We've kind of come up with, there's a lot of mental health concerns currently that we're supporting our students with. We're also seeing a larger academic gap in the last couple of years between the intermediate and middle school levels. 

"We're also still kind of, as a team, have been talking about, is this because those students also missed a lot of foundational skills due to COVID. So how do we address that?" she said. "That's something we've looked at. They're seeing a bigger need in more of that specially designed instruction, and more of our students need more self-contained support. So that's a goal that we've been working on.”

The primary focus for the Special Education Department this year is to:

Establish a guiding coalition for special education, known as the “Pupil Support Network.” . . .

This network’s tasks include creating a special education continuum and determining a profile of current students in the continuum of services.

“We looked at our current continuum, and then determined what do our students need based on the profiles that we're now seeing for students, and is there any need for improvement or change?” Marciano said. . . .

Mission - to promote logical progression, non-communication across the district with the usage of related services, specialized instruction, and the multi-tiered system of supports to ensure student success with a data-driven approach to support decision-making policies and processes.

Vision - will provide continuity between buildings with a logical progression of procedures and policies; communication within buildings and throughout the district through collaboration.

Values and Goals include collaboration between buildings and disciplines to support multi-tiered supports, measuring student success, developing policies and procedures, and using data to inform decision-making.

“It’s a nice team that works really collaboratively together that really represents the entire district,” she said. “We have people from every building who’s there, and our main focus, again, is that these are our students, we work together to create a newsletter that goes out to our special education staff.”

Services related to professional learning teams include three domains of speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, and physical therapy.

Continue to grow Batavia’s preschool program, which supports Genesee, Orleans, and Wyoming counties. This program provides service for 23 kids in Batavia, three each in Le Roy and Alexander, two each in Pavilion and Attica, one each in Medina, Albion, Pembroke, Byron-Bergen and Elba.

Continue to grow the Work Study program, which may includes tasks of cleaning and organizing, sorting silverware and dishes, collecting cans and bottles, and helping a teacher hand out papers in middle school; and recycling, helping with mailing, putting menus in staff mailboxes, shredding, manning the coffee cart, making copies,  or being part of the seedling sale in high school. . . .