The Greece Central School District is facing a growing need for support services for students with disabilities.
Some of the youngest students who qualified for early intervention as infants or toddlers did not end up receiving those services and are entering prekindergarten at a deficit, said Stacey Brindisi, executive director of the district’s pupil personnel service department, which oversees special education.
“We've had to really kind of back it up and say, ‘Our systems can't fail our kids when the outside systems did,’” Brindisi said at a school board meeting Tuesday. “So typically, kids would come in, and we would have a series of interventions and supports. And now we say, ‘If you're a preschool student in Greece and you didn't get services, then you're coming into Greece, and we're figuring out how to get those services to you.’”
Across New York state, the need for early intervention has grown significantly in the past three decades — from about 20,500 infants and toddlers in 1998 to 70,000 in recent years, according to a recent report by the Children’s Agenda.
But the average number of early intervention therapists in the state is declining according to that same report — from more than 14,700 in 2019, to 12,755 in the first quarter of this year. About half of children whose early intervention plans were approved at the beginning of 2024 received those services in a timely manner.
Those who did not, who reside in the Greece school district, are the ones for whom staff are straining to fully support, and do so quickly. But Brindisi said the resources available for kindergarteners who need that additional support are limited.
"We often are getting more kids in (kindergarten) ... they've received zero early intervention, and they're nonverbal, not potty trained, have autism, cognitively very low, and they have had no exposure at all,” Brindisi said. “So they come in as a general ed student, and that's really hard for our system to maintain.”
According to the district, about 1,500 students with disabilities are enrolled in Greece schools, making up about 15.6% of total enrollment.
About a third are classified as “other health impairment,” which Brindisi said is a catch-all for conditions like Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, anxiety, and depression. About 20% are classified as having a learning disability, and another 20% as being on the Autism spectrum.
Meeting students’ needs will require more space and staffing, Brindisi said. More space is needed to accommodate the growing need for special education classes across all grades going forward, she said. With staffing, the district currently has about 10 openings for support staffers including specialists, aides, and paraprofessionals, according to its website.
"For the first time, I'm really concerned that we don't have room for our kids," she said.
Superintendent Jeremy Smalline noted during the budget process last school year that the need for special education support services, like speech therapy and occupational therapy, has grown by 42% since the 2019-20 school year.
