LEWISTON — What’s behind the request for 45 new special education positions in the proposed school budget?

More students with more needs.

Lewiston has 970 special education students; 68 have arrived since Oct. 1. Next year, the number will surpass 1,020, among an expected total student population of 5,633.

“It seems like every week families are moving to Lewiston with special-needs students,” said Superintendent Bill Webster. “We’re required by law to service them whether we have budgeted (for them) or not.”

Special ed students have a wide range of needs, from just a little help to intense, one-on-one staffing.

Twenty of the new positions would be dedicated to two new RISE (Reaching Independence through Systematic Education) autism classes, one at Geiger Elementary School and one at Farwell Elementary.

“If we don’t have these positions, these students would have to be serviced out of district at higher costs,” Webster said.

The other 25 positions are for teachers and education technicians in resource rooms at Farwell, Montello and Longley elementary schools, Lewiston Middle School and Lewiston High School. The resource rooms will help students who are able to spend part of their day mainstreamed in regular classes.

The state reimburses districts for special ed costs, but there’s a two-year delay. In the meantime, local taxpayers have to pay. If the budget doesn’t provide more for special education, “we have to rob Peter to pay Paul,” Webster said. “We’d have to take from regular programs to meet the legally required special ed costs.”

‘Children are needier’

Many factors can contribute to a “special ed” designation in addition to genetics, experts say, including lead poisoning, trauma and an environment in which a child’s needs have not been met.

“Children are needier than they used to be,” Webster said. “I’m not a psychologist, but I do think today’s world is more stressful.”

Further, Webster, said some young children are less apt to play with peers before they start school. “They have to learn those things in schools now.”

Lewiston is also seeing more students diagnosed with disabilities, some only 4 or 5 years old. Of the 500 incoming pre-kindergarten students, 90 have been identified by the state Child Development Services as having disabilities, often autism and emotional disabilities, Webster said.

Children with emotional disabilities have high levels of anxiety, don’t feel safe in a classroom environment, lack coping skills and are easily triggered, said Sarah Rent, assistant director of special education for Lewiston schools.

When triggered, “they may go into a ‘fight or flight’ mode, running from classrooms or hiding under tables,” Rent said.

Like all elementary schools, Geiger Elementary has students arriving “with pretty significant behavioral needs,” said Geiger special ed coordinator Michelle Winslow. “We’re trying to build support within the school to manage those students.”

The goal is to teach coping skills “and keep them and all the other students in a safe environment,” said Geiger Principal Cindy Gish.

The autism factor

Nationally, the rate of autism is on the rise, triple what it was six or seven years ago, Webster said.

Some of that may be due to better identification, “but I think kids are really different today,” Webster said. “I’d love to have someone tell me the causes of autism. I don’t have the answer. We are definitely dealing with the fallout of higher identification rates, whether autism or behavioral issues.”

At Geiger last week, students with autism worked with teachers in their RISE classrooms. Some youngsters are in the self-contained class all day. Others attend art, gym and lunch with regular students. Still others are able to attend several regular classes.

Students with autism range from those who are nonverbal to those who are high-achieving, Gish said.

The RISE classrooms are small, no more than eight students. Teaching is highly individualized. The desks are not close together; some are separated by screens.

One young boy walked away from his desk with an ed tech. He was smiling. Because of his good behavior, he had earned the privilege of working on an iPad.

This year, Geiger has three autism classrooms, each staffed by one teacher and seven ed techs.

Geiger’s autism classrooms, which service all Lewiston schools, have a capacity of 24 students. “We are full,” Gish said.

“We have a pretty large population that will require a high level of services coming up into kindergarten that will fill many of the new slots,” Winslow said. The two new RISE classes are expected to be full as soon as they’re open.

The goal is to help students improve so they’re able to be mainstreamed. 

That is happening.

Eight students have been dismissed from the RISE program this year, able to attend regular classrooms all day without an ed tech, Winslow said.

Lewiston schools are doing good work in special ed programs, Webster said. “But we have a long way to go to meet our needs and deal with the increase in population.”

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