By Bridget Manley, publisher
A group advocating for improvements to the city’s special education programs asked the school board for continued training and support for school personnel, physical accessibility upgrades to classrooms and playgrounds, and making school communications more accessible for those with disabilities.
Ken Hill, director of special education, represented the Special Education Advisory Committee, which presented those recommendations school board work session at Skyline Middle School on Tuesday. Hill highlighted a need for upgrades to the playgrounds at Waterman and Spotswood Elementary Schools. At both schools, the playgrounds are located downhill from the buildings, and students with physical limitations must take long routes to access the spaces.
Hill also highlighted continued training and support for school personnel to ensure equitable access for all students and their ability to participate in general education classrooms with their peers.
“That will be a never-ending process,” Hill told board members. “It’s the constant training of new staff that we work with. We target grade levels based on the school’s needs.”
Another recommendation was to make school communications to students and their families— including surveys and announcements — more inclusive to those with disabilities.
School communications are currently sent in English, Spanish and Arabic. Hill said braille and other forms of communication could be included to ensure equitable access for those with disabilities and for different communication needs for school-sponsored events.
Hill said he recognized the school district’s ongoing efforts to increase the number of students with disabilities served in general education classrooms and to step up outreach with the creation of a parent resource website.
New tags to highlight priorities for building projects
The board also received a draft of the Capital Improvement Plan from Shawn Prinz, Chief Operating Officer for the school system, for the fiscal years from 2026-2030.
The draft highlights all the building projects that school officials forecast will be needed in upcoming years.
Working with board members Emma Phillips and Andy Kohen, the draft plan was retooled to color-code projects by priority. High-priority projects were red-tagged as the highest priority that school officials deemed should be included in the budget. Among the red-coded high-priority projects are renovations to Massanutten Technical Center, which school officials project will cost $5.5 million, and purchasing land to build a seventh elementary school. School officials estimate that such land could cost $2.5 million but would address current and future overcrowding at some elementary schools in the city.
Orange tags signified medium-priority projects over the next 2-3 years, and lower-priority projects were noted in yellow, which they plan to budget in the next five years.
During the discussion, board members agreed that putting off a decision to find land in the city might harm the system in the long run, noting the need for more currently available space and rising land prices.
The draft plan, which the board members adopted in a 5-1 vote at the work session, aims to communicate the top capital improvement project more effectively to the Harrisonburg City Council, which approves the district’s annual spending plans.
Thanks for reading The Citizen, which won the Virginia Press Association’s 2022 News Sweepstakes award as the top online news site in Virginia. We’re independent. We’re local. We pay our contributors, and the money you give goes directly to the reporting. No overhead. No printing costs. Just facts, stories and context. We value your support.
