Departments & Services Links
Special Education Contact Info
1738 Helderberg Trail
Berne, NY 12023
Phone: (518) 872-5101
Karrie Diacetis, Director of Special Education
Special Education Definitions
Special education is specially designed individualized or group instruction or special services or programs provided to a student with a disability (SWD) as determined by the Committee on Special Education (CSE).
Individualized education program (IEP) means a written statement, developed, reviewed, and revised in accordance with section 200.4 of the Regulations of the Commissioner.
Least restrictive environment (LRE) means that placement of students with disabilities in special classes, separate schools, or other removal from the regular education environment occurs only when the nature or severity of the disability is such that even with the use of supplementary aids and services, education cannot be satisfactorily achieved. The placement of an individual student with a disability in the least restrictive environment shall:
- Provide the special education needed by the student.
- Provide for the education of the student to the maximum extent appropriate to the needs of the student with other students who do not have disabilities, and
- Be as close as possible to the student’s home.
Students with a disability means a student with a disability as defined in section 4401(1) of Education Law, who has not attained the age of 22 prior to September 1st and who is entitled to attend public schools pursuant to section 3202 of the Education Law and who, because of mental, physical or emotional reasons, has been identified as having a disability and who requires special services and programs approved by the department. The thirteen categories of eligibility are:
- Autism
- Deafness
- Deaf-blindness
- Emotional disturbance
- Hearing impairment
- Learning disability
- Intellectual Disability
- Multiple disability
- Orthopedic impairment
- Other health-impairment
- Speech or language impairment
- Traumatic brain injury
- Visual impairment, including blindness
Special Education Services Offered
School Age Students with Disabilities Continuum of Services in District
Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School District offers a continuum of programs and services to school-age and preschool students with disabilities, ranging from related services only to highly specialized programs in segregated settings. A description of the nature of special education programs and services currently available includes:
Related Services
Certified providers offer a range of services to students with disabilities. Such services include, but are not limited to the following:
- Occupational Therapy
- Speech/Language Services
- Medical/Nursing Services
- Music Therapy
- Vision Services
- Physical Therapy
- Counseling/Social Work Services
- Hearing Impaired Services
- Orientation and Mobility Services
Special Education Teacher Services
Integrated Co-Teaching Classes
- Integrated co-teaching services mean the provision of specially designed academic instruction to a group of students with disabilities and non-disabled students. It is a means through which students with IEPs receive some or all of their specialized instruction and related services in the context of the general education classroom.
- In this model, two professionals with teaching certification are co-teachers, one who is a general education teacher and one who is a special education teacher. Both professionals participate fully, although differently, in the instructional process. General educators maintain primary responsibility for the content of the learning instruction; special educators hold primary responsibility for facilitating the learning process. Co-teaching is one mechanism for facilitating effective inclusion.
Direct Consultant Teacher Services
- Direct Consultant teacher services means direct and/or indirect services provided to a student with a disability within the regular education classroom. Consultant teacher services must be provided by a certified special education teacher. A Teacher of the Deaf, although specialized in Deaf Education, also assumes a consultant role.
Resource Room Programs
Resource Room programs shall be for the purpose of supplementing the regular or special classroom instruction of students with disabilities who are in need of such supplemental programs and are taught by special education teachers.
- Each student with a disability requiring a resource room program shall receive not less than three hours of instruction per week in such program, except that the committee on special education may recommend that a student with a disability who also needs consultant teacher services in addition to resource room services, may receive a combination of such services consistent with the student’s IEP for not less than three hours per week.
- The composition of instructional groups in a resource room program shall be based on the similarity of the individual needs of the student according to; levels of social development, levels of physical development, and the management needs of the students in the classroom.
Special Class
A student with a disability shall be placed in a special class for instruction on a daily basis to the extent indicated in the student’s individualized education program. This can be done by period in the middle and high school, or by content area in the elementary school. A special class shall be composed of students with disabilities with similar individual needs. The maximum class size for those students who have special education needs, which consist primarily of the need for specialized instruction, which can best be accomplished in a self-contained setting, shall not exceed 15 students, 12 students, or 8 students, depending on the approved class ratio.
Out of District Placement Services
Contracted services are provided through the following placements for students whose needs dictate programs and/or services that are currently not available in the district. Programs may focus on behavior management needs, students with multiple severe deficits such as cerebral palsy, or significant intellectual disabilities.
Students are Placed in the Following Programs
- State-Approved Private Placement
- Langan School (Center for Disability Services)
- Parsons
- Vanderheyden
- Wildwood
- BOCES Programs
- Developmental Skills
- Ready to Learn
- Pathways to Learning
- Social/Emotional
- State Approved Public Placement
- Greenville CSD
- Coxsackie CSD
- Cobleskill CSD
Current Numbers and Services
2025-26 Budget: 3,098,745
- Special Education Teachers Elementary: 6
- Special Education Teachers Secondary: 5
- Speech/Language Therapist: 2
- Occupational Therapist: 1
- Physical Therapist: .2
- School Psychologist: 2
- School Counselor: 3
- Vision Therapist: .2
- O&M Therapist: 1
- Music Therapist: .1
Placement
- Kindergarten (K): 1 in-district | 1 out-of-district | 5 total
- Grade 1: 10 in-district | 2 out-of-district | 14 total
- Grade 2: 6 in-district | 5 out-of-district | 10 total
- Grade 3: 9 in-district | 1 out-of-district | 7 total
- Grade 4: 9 in-district | 0 out-of-district | 8 total
- Grade 5: 5 in-district | 0 out-of-district | 7 total
- Grade 6: 6 in-district | 2 out-of-district | 6 total
- Grade 7: 6 in-district | 3 out-of-district | 12 total
- Grade 8: 10 in-district | 2 out-of-district | 11 total
- Grade 9: 14 in-district | 0 out-of-district | 12 total
- Grade 10: 13 in-district | 0 out-of-district | 9 total
- Grade 11: 7 in-district | 0 out-of-district | 10 total
- Grade 12: 9 in-district | 0 out-of-district | 9 total
- GED: 0 in-district | 0 out-of-district | 0 total
- UG: 0 in-district | 7 out-of-district | 8 total
- Parentally Placed: 0 in-district | 5 out-of-district | 1 total
Overall Total: 112 in-district | 28 out-of-district | 140 total
Changes this year
BKW has 2 new classrooms this upcoming school year. These classes focus on a smaller class size and more individual academic teaching.
We had 5 students return to the district. We are hopeful to continue to grow the program and bring back more BKW students to our campus.