Cadott School Board - Time with the 4K students is better served on different day

Deb Delyea, Cadott special education director, spoke Jan. 8, about how the district determines if they can accept open enrolled special education students or if they have to decline. The decision is based on projections of how many students there will be and how many staff members are needed. Photo by Ginna Young

By Ginna Young

Currently, Cadott 4K students are in class Monday and Tuesday, have Wednesday off, then attend Thursday and Friday. But, if plans continue, the days will switch up, with the children off Monday, but in school the remainder of the school week.

Elementary principal Brad Rogers mentioned the upcoming change Jan. 8, at a board of education meeting, saying that staff notices a spike in behaviors when the students have the mid-week day off. The young students then need to “re-learn” expectations and actions acceptable for good school behavior.

So far, parents have not been surveyed, but Rogers has run the idea by leadership teams, food service and busing, who expressed no issues with the move. The days were originally set how they are, because of previous wishes from former administration and/or educators. “We do things for generations and not know why we do them,” said Rogers.

Brad Sonnentag, board member, asked if the district had done any research to see if people would rather have a five-day 4K. Rogers was not aware if such a survey had been done in the past.

Sonnentag thought perhaps the fourday 4K is why enrollment is down for that class, because it “messes up” daycare attendance requirement for parents.

“I think that’s why our kindergarten jumps up,” said Spaeth.

Rogers does not know of a program that has the younger students all five days, but it’s not out of the realm of possibility.

“We can look into it, for sure,” said district administrator Josh Spaeth.

Also discussed, was the 4K census, with the district currently tracking 30 incoming students. It’s possible that Cadott could have far more than planned, as they’ve seen that trend in the last couple years.

“There’s a good chance we will have a group of 50 to 60,” said Rogers.

Action that is required, is setting a cap, or not setting a cap, on open enrollment seats for not only elementary, but also middle and high school. It was agreed no cap is needed for regular education students, but special education is another matter entirely.

Deb Delyea, special education director, recommended not accepting any additional open enrollment special education students.

As part of her job, Delyea is required to determine if the district has open seats for special education, based on projections of incoming referrals, current referrals and graduating referrals. She also looks at how many educators Cadott has and completes a caseload study.

Over the school year, Delyea re-evaluates if that cap can be lifted.

“Because, caseloads can change,” she said.

That doesn’t apply to current open enrolled students. All present disliked putting a cap on the number of special education students they can accept, but with an ever increasing number of those students and only so much staffing, it was the best option for the district.

“That seems to be pretty common,” said Spaeth.