Bigfork schools studying new special-education plan

Every day is a juggling act for Karly Wisher, the special education teacher at Bigfork Elementary.

With 19 students, all with varying degrees of need, her classroom is hectic. At any moment she is helping multiple students. She splits her attention almost as if she has extra eyes and ears, never missing a beat. A student reads out loud, continuing on as Wisher deals with new students popping through the door, sending one to work on spelling, persuading another it’s not time for his session yet. Wisher deals with it all and still seems to have heard the words the first student is reading, easily engaging again with the student asking “and what does that mean?”

Bigfork School District has shown an increase in students with disabilities, going from 76 students to 93 students. Within that increase the number of students who require more intense and specialized programming more than doubled.

Interim superintendent Russ Kinzer and special services director Mary Meehan are looking to restructure the district’s special-education program.

Bigfork special education has functioned as part of a consortium of schools, including Evergreen, Helena Flats and Bigfork school district. The three districts have worked together to provide special-education services.

Evergreen provided financial support for the program, which helped the schools provide the services to their special-education students. By teaming up Bigfork was able to send some high-needs students to Evergreen for the appropriate programs.

There are 13 federally identified educational disabilities, ranging from speech and language delays to autism. The Individuals with Disabilities Act requires that students with these disabilities are able to obtain a free public education that addresses the child’s needs and does not exclude them from any educational opportunities.

Meehan, special services director for the consortium of schools, said the needs of a special-education students are constantly changing.

With what she called the unexpected growth in students in the Bigfork district, Meehan began researching how services could be expanded to fulfill those needs. This led to the idea of hiring a special services director for Bigfork, who would serve as a liaison between the state and the school.

“I think Bigfork has gotten big enough that there needs to be someone in my role present and part of the administrative team,” Meehan said.

Meehan and Kinzer have begun looking closely at the services Bigfork already offers, and the services they’d ideally like to provide.

“We’re trying to expand the program to address the needs of the students we’re serving,” Meehan said.

Kinzer hopes to have a proposal ready for the board of trustees at the March 25 meeting. The new program may be implemented next year.

The overall goal of the special education program is to help students learn to be independent and enable them build to life skills they will need after high school.

Bigfork has already begun a hands-on program that partners with Harvest Foods and the community to teach students about life skills and give them some work experience. Every Thursday, students in the program take lunch orders from the faculty. They then work with Harvest Foods on Monday to fill and deliver the orders. Recently, they’ve had a few high school students stocking shelves.

But this program will be part of the new program Kinzer and Meehan are proposing.

Part of the new plan would be to hire more faculty and reduce the caseloads of special-education teachers like Wisher. They hope to grow the connection with the community that will benefit the students and the town.

“I am really excited about it,” Meehan said.