Director of Pupil Services Kim Carpinone said 215 students took part last summer in the six-week ESY (Extended School Year) program, along with 119 staff.
Carpinone told the School Board at its Tuesday, Sept. 23 meeting that ESY is a federally mandated component of the special education IEP (Individual Education Plan) process and includes an extension of specific special education or related services beyond the regular school day and year.
“Jill Connors and Deb Setterlund are my ESY queens,” she said. “They run the program over the summer, but the number of students and faculty involved in running the program for children with disabilities throughout the summer is really like running a small school.
“We ran 19 different types of programs because we have to model the services that they are getting throughout the school year, and Jill and Deb, along with help from the Human Resources department, hired 119 people to run the ESY program,” Carpinone said.
She said almost all the students in the ESY program require transportation, which is also federally mandated, and the district works with Provider, the bus company that provides the transportation.
“If they can be, the buses are air conditioned,” Carpinone said.
In response to a question from board member Steve Young, Carpinone said the federal government pays for about 12 percent of the cost of that transportation.
School Board member John Laferriere asked how much the program cost the district.
Saying she did not yet have the final figures, Carpinone said typically staffing costs between $120,000 to $130,000 and transportation costs are about $85,000 for the summer, which includes field trips. Supplies cost about $2,000.
Carpinone said about 25 percent of the district’s students are in Special Education during the school year.