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CASE COLLABORATIVE OVERVIEW

Under the provisions of Chapter 40 Section 4E of the General Laws of Massachusetts, the school districts of Acton, Acton-Boxborough Regional, Bedford, Boxborough, Carlisle, Concord, Concord-Carlisle Regional, Harvard, Lincoln, Lincoln-Sudbury Regional, Littleton, Maynard, Nashoba Regional, and Sudbury voluntarily joined together to form the Concord Area Special Education (CASE) Collaborative. CASE was formed in 1974 to meet regional needs of member school districts. The main, although not exclusive, focus of CASE Collaborative is special education. The enactment of special education laws mandated that school districts provide appropriate educational services for all students with disabilities. CASE is a vehicle that allows school districts to plan, develop and implement programs for these students. It affords school districts the opportunity to augment, supplement, and provide a continuum of special education programs through collaboration with other school districts. It provides a mechanism for people to share ideas and resources for the purpose of meeting a common need. All personnel involved in developing programs for students in CASE districts are part of the CASE Community. This community is built upon the belief that collectively the participating school districts and community groups have a great deal of expertise that can and should be utilized to increase the educational opportunity for students. CASE Collaborative provides a means to identify this expertise and then to utilize it on a regional level.

COLLABORATIVE ADMINISTERED CLASSES

A major activity of the Collaborative is the administration and coordination of classes for students with low-incidence disabilities. A population is considered low-incidence when a community, by itself, cannot provide a program due to a variety of reasons. Some of the possible limitations are:

  • Insufficient numbers to form an adequate program
  • Insufficient numbers to provide a peer group
  • Disabilities requiring very specialized approaches
  • Available public school programs are not appropriate

CASE classrooms serving approximately 160 students are located in seventeen public school buildings within the CASE districts. These programs include:

  • Programs for Students with Developmental Disabilities: Classes are housed in public schools located in Acton, Bedford, Carlisle, Concord, Harvard, Lincoln, Littleton and Maynard.
  • Programs for Students with Hearing, Speech and Language Disabilities: classes are located in Concord and Lincoln.
  • Alternative Education Programs: elementary classes are located in Boxborough and Littleton. A middle school class is located in Concord, and Colebrook High School is in Acton.
  • Summer Program: since the mid 1970's CASE has administered a summer program. During the summer of 2008, well over one hundred children attended programs at the Parker Damon Building in Acton, the Ripley Building in Concord, and Colebrook High School in Acton. Programs are designed to prevent substantial regression during summer recess while working toward IEP goals.