Disston School to End Special Ed Services

Students with disabilities who now attend the Hamilton Disston School in Gulfport will be sent to Clearwater or Pinellas Park schools in a move that will save the school district $6.5 million.

Pinellas County Schools Superintendent Mike Grego made the announcement on Tuesday at a school board meeting, according to the Tampa Bay Times.

Students in special education programs at Hamilton Disston School will be transferred next year to Calvin Hunsinger School in Clearwater or Richard L. Sanders School in Pinellas Park, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

The Gulfport school will not be closed but transformed into a school with alternative or vocational programs.

Hamilton Disston staff, which number about 40, would also be transferred to the new schools or placed in other jobs within the district.

Grego told the school board that Pinellas County spends more on special ed services per student than any other Florida school district. But he noted that the district does not achieve better outcomes.

One plan by the district is to start grouping students in classrooms based on ability, rather than disability.

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