LEWISTOWN — The Mifflin County School District Board of Directors met Thursday for an in-depth look at the state of special education in the district.

Director of Student Services Cindi Marsh led the presentation, beginning with an overview of staffing. The district currently employs 66 special education teachers, including 12 autistic support teachers, 39 learning support teachers, 10 emotional support teachers, eight life skills support teachers, one teacher for vision and hearing impairments, and one behavior support teacher.

The department also includes 97 paraprofessionals, 10 speech/language pathologists, two occupational therapists, three certified occupational therapy assistants, four school psychologists, and one sign language interpreter. Marsh noted that a fifth school psychologist has been hired for next year and is completing final paperwork.

Rising enrollment in special education

The district now serves 950 special education students, compared to 805 in 2022-23, 885 in 2023-24, and 919 in 2024-25. That represents 21.6% of the student population, a percentage Marsh said has steadily increased.

The number of students with autism continues to rise, reaching 124 for the 2025-26 school year. Other categories include 76 students with intellectual disabilities, 72 with emotional disturbance, and 197 with other health impairments — a category that has grown from 155 in 2022-23 to 185 in 2024-25.

“Most of this growth I would say is because of students having ADHD,” Marsh said.

Out-of-district placements

Marsh also addressed students placed in more restrictive settings when district resources are exhausted. Mifflin County contracts with Soaring Heights School in Mifflin and State College, as well as Merakey School in State College. The district currently transports 17 students to these placements.

Students return to district programs when they meet their support goals, Marsh said.

Enrollment trends and improvements

While overall district enrollment continues to decline, the number of students requiring special education services is increasing — a trend reflected statewide.

Marsh highlighted several improvements made this year, including the creation of two autistic support classrooms at Indian Valley, allowing students to remain in their home building.

The district is also working on an application for Lewistown.

Elementary School to use Response to Intervention (RTI) to identify students with learning disabilities in reading and math. RTI is already approved at East Derry Elementary, Indian Valley Elementary Center, and Strodes Mills Elementary.

“Response to intervention is actually where you don’t wait for kids to fail,” Marsh said. “You intervene immediately to try to close the gap.”

Early intervention, she added, helps many students remain in regular education without needing special education placement.

Further coverage from Thursday’s meeting will appear in a future edition of The Sentinel.