The Bath-area school district is taking over the special education services for the youngest students this school year.

Regional School Unit 1 is absorbing the special education program for 4-year-old children, covering pre-K, Bath Head Start and the Bath YMCA, according to Karen Brackett, director of special education for RSU 1. Those programs were previously overseen by the Maine Department of Education’s Childhood Development Services

Approximately 15 students have been placed in the program to begin the school year, according to the Maine DOE. As RSU 1 begins its two-year transition for 4-year-old children eligible for the program, it will add 3-year-olds next year.

The switchover is happening statewide, with approximately 526 students moving from the CDS and into Maine school districts to date, according to Chloe Teboe, Maine DOE director of communications. The transition into the schools was split into two cohorts, with the first cohort taking over CDS services during the 2024-2025 school year, while RSU 1 falls into the second cohort for this school year.

Since CDS does not operate schools and has only a limited offering of specialized educational programming for children aged 3–5, it needed to enter into contracts with private providers and special-purpose programs, Teboe said.

Before the transfer happened, Maine families reported frustrating wait times to get their children with special needs the care they needed to thrive. The number of children requiring services and programming outpaced what was available, so the state determined that the public school system should work to support early childhood education for this age group, Teboe said.

After the rollout is complete, all districts will have to assume responsibility for all students by 2028.

Maine was the second-to-last state in the country to transition from CDS to school districts, and RSU 1 is a partner in the transition that began this year, said Brooke Wilmouth, who is the RSU 1 early childhood special education teacher coordinator .

The district will provide specially designed instruction to students, and CDS will serve as a support and service hub for the school districts, helping them meet their FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education) obligations for children aged 3–5 and streamlining referrals.

The support includes speech and language therapy, along with occupational therapy and special instruction tailored to help children with special needs regulate their emotions in the classroom. Two education technicians will be working with Wilmouth.