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 early childhood program, providing students with special needs the services that they require that she isn’t able to provide. Worster said that children can start coming to school through the early childhood program when they’re three years old, which means they can receive their services much more quickly and simultaneously 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 district model has been significant even beyond just a logistical standpoint. Worster said now, some of her pre-K classes 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 through the early childhood program 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.

RSU 35 students (photo credit: RSU 35)

Ask South Berwick parent Mary Hayes about this past year, and she would tell you that it has been “life-changing”—particularly for her adopted four-year-old, Matthew. Hayes took Matthew in through foster care when he was two years old and says he experienced some trauma early in life. When Matthew started attending daycare last year, he struggled behaviorally and did not do as well as her older son.

“My biggest concern was that he was becoming the ‘bad’ kid,” Hayes said. “[Matthew] was the only one getting kicked out of class. … I was like, ‘Oh no; great start to life.’”

Matthew was placed on a waiting list with Child Development Services (CDS) to receive one-on-one support, and Hayes admits that the wait her family experienced was frustrating. She said it was unclear how long it would be until Matthew got the services, which were essential before starting kindergarten. Hayes had to cut back on hours at her job to dedicate more time to caring for Matthew, taking a toll on her family financially and mentally. 

The “life-changing” moment that Hayes described came with a call one day from Scott Reuning, Director of Special Services at RSU 35. The school district had implemented universal pre-K for 50 years and made the decision to opt into Cohort 1 of the transition of Early Childhood Special Education services for children ages three through five from CDS to school administrative units (SAUs). As a result of this participation, Matthew could enroll in RSU 35.

“I’m not exaggerating when I say it was like a miracle,” Hayes said. “I cried. It was amazing.”

“I wasn’t aware of the pay-off I was going to get until it came,” Reuning said of the CDS transition.

Reuning explained that RSU 35 joined Cohort 1 just three weeks before the start of the 2024-2025 school year. While that tight turnaround was initially somewhat daunting, he said the district was able to get itself in place to begin welcoming children by the time school started. Reuning credited school leadership for being “all in” as a reason for that success.

Throughout the past year, RSU 35 has even been able to accept some children from neighboring districts, as well. Reuning said the feedback from parents about the services that their kids are receiving has been positive.

“Parents are extremely happy,” Reuning said.

RSU 35 students (photo credit: RSU 35)

The long-term benefits of providing these services to children at an early age was another reason that RSU 35 made the choice to join Cohort 1. RSU 35 IEP Coordinator Andrea Biniszkiewicz said that she has seen amazing progress in students so far and believes that will translate to when they are school-aged.

“As they get older, I think we’re going to see students have more skills because in the past, they weren’t always getting the services that they needed,” Biniszkiewicz said. 

RSU 35 teacher Laurie DuBois said she is grateful for the obvious benefits of the CDS transition in the moment, too—like having an opportunity to connect more closely with families.

“Enrichment, inclusivity, relationship, familiarity, consistency, community, and comfort are among many words that I describe as positive impacts,” DuBois said, later adding, “I am incredibly proud that RSU 35 became a Cohort 1 district to meet the critical needs for families within our community.”

Going into this coming school year, Matthew will be in the pre-K class at RSU 35. Hayes said that she is no longer worried about how he might do—and neither are his teachers.

“He feels good about himself. He thinks he’s smart; he wants to go to school. That’s a different kid,” Hayes said.

Hayes said ultimately, she is grateful for the immense support she has received from RSU 35 and hopes that her parent friends in other districts can receive similar help.

“Having all of these professionals who I felt like were on my team was a total game-changer,” Hayes said. “I felt like we were all a team looking out for Matty.”

RSU 35 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.