Veazie Community School pre-K student (photo credit: Veazie Community School)

Loyann Worster is one of those lucky people who found her calling in life. She is entering her 11th year as a pre-K teacher at Veazie Community School; it was her first teaching job after graduating from college, and she never left.

“I never saw myself doing this, but once I started, it was obvious that this has got to be what I do,” Worster said. “I really, really enjoy teaching this age group.”

Last year, Veazie Community School was one of a handful of school districts to participate in Cohort 1 of the transition of Early Childhood Special Education services from Child Development Services (CDS) to school administrative units (SAUs). Worster worked for CDS in a special purpose preschool about 15 years ago and heard inklings about the concept of a transition for a while.

“I was really excited, just to see what that was going to bring and how that might change things at our school, but I was also really nervous because we were the first cohort,” Worster said. “Nobody really knew what that was going to look like or how that was going to work.”

Fortunately, Worster said that thanks to exceptional teamwork among staff members and funding to provide necessary materials, the transition went well. In fact, she called the overall effects of the transition “amazing.” Now, specialists are in her school building as a part of the general team, allowing students with special needs to receive the services they require much more quickly. Worster said that children can start coming to school when they’re three years old, which means they get to know the occupational therapists, speech therapists, etc., who they might end up working with once they’re in preschool.

“By the time they come to pre-K on day one, they are ready to go!” Worster said.

That provision of services within a typical school model has been significant even beyond just a logistical standpoint. Worster said classes now have a mix of children with disabilities and children without disabilities, which has been beneficial to all.

“Inclusion is the way to be. Having these children in our classrooms is the way to be,” Worster said. “They’re all really learning how to come together and be a community of people with differences.”

Veazie Community School pre-K students (photo credit: Veazie Community School)

Tim Tweedie, Superintendent of Veazie Community School, credits the “can-do” attitude of his staff for the success his district has seen throughout the past year as a part of Cohort 1.

“The one question we had to ask was, ‘Is this something we feel that we can do?’ After a brief discussion, we said, ‘Yeah—and whatever we don’t know, we’ll figure out,’” Tweedie said.

The benefit of this transition has extended to local families, too.

“For parents, this is like a one-stop shop,” Tweedie explained. “If they have multiple services, they can get those all under one roof, and it is convenient for the parents.”

“Parents love the fact that they are at our school. They get to see their teacher, their speech person, their occupational therapist, their physical therapist,” Debrajean Scheibel, Director of Special Services at Veazie Community School, added.

For Schiebel, that opportunity to interact directly with families has been invaluable. She said some families are already remarking to her that they are noticing growth in their child as a result of the transition of these services.

“You can’t even begin to put a price-tag on any of that,” Schiebel said.

Veazie Community School and the Maine DOE Office of Special Services and Inclusive Education contributed to this article, written as part of a series highlighting the ongoing efforts of CDS and public schools in providing comprehensive educational services to Maine’s children with special needs. To submit a good news story to the Maine DOE, please fill out the good news submission form.