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DOE's efforts to open specialized programs closer to students' homes

1:01:10

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John Hammer explains the Department of Education's efforts to reduce travel times for students with special needs by opening specialized programs closer to their homes.

The DOE opened 36 new programs for students with autism in districts 5, 12, and 14.
This initiative reduced District 75 recommendations for kindergarten students with autism from 56% to 19% in these districts.
Average travel distance for these students decreased from 2.7 miles to 1.5 miles.
These efforts aim to support OPT in reducing overall travel times for students with special needs.

John Hammer

1:01:10

I think with any of this, we are looking to reduce the amount of time that students spend on the school bus.

1:01:18

And I can speak to a little bit.

1:01:20

I know that our colleagues in OPT are doing a whole lot in order to make that happen.

1:01:25

I think that we also just want to acknowledge the need to provide placements to students closer to home.

1:01:31

And so for many years, we have been placing students in district 75 schools that are quite far from their child's home, and we're asking our partners in OPT to arrange for transportation quickly.

1:01:43

I think something that we are trying to do now that is important for us to talk a little bit about is opening up highly specialized programs closer to students' homes.

1:01:54

This fall, after after convening the the Special Education Advisory Council, we opened up 36 programs for students with autism that are entering kindergarten within districts 5, 12, and 4 team.

1:02:08

And what we saw through our ability to offer these students high quality autism programs close to their home is we saw that recommendations for District 75 for these kiddos, they reduced from 50 6% of students with autism entering kindergarten these districts last year to 19% this year.

1:02:28

And what does that mean in terms of distance to school?

1:02:33

Students were traveling two point seven miles on average last school year, and we were able to to reduce that number to 1.5 miles of this school year.

1:02:42

And so this is a very complex issue and really our work to provide programs closer to home is really going to support our partners in OBT to Thank

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