Laurel Peltier, Ed.D. is a Curriculum and Instruction Specialist in Special Education at the Collaborative for Educational Services. Her work focuses on special education leaders and leadership, and particularly on facilitating the IEP team process with people inside of schools and in community settings who support kids who have disabilities. We recently asked Laurel whether at this time, the role of special education team leader is more important than ever. She responded, “Special education funding has been an issue for as long as I have been in the field of education, and while...

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Massachusetts Migrant Education Program provides support across the Commonwealth
In the fall of 2020, the Collaborative for Educational Services (CES) took on the management of the Massachusetts Migrant Education Program (MMEP). CES has a strong programmatic core of supporting students that aligned well with the MMEP work, and it was the plan...
US Department of Ed Selects HEC Academy as Green Ribbon award winner
HEC Academy has been selected one of 55 national 2024 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon award winners. The U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) is a public engagement initiative for school sustainability. The ED-GRS is a recognition of...
50 Years of Belonging and Community for Students with Disabilities
In 1974, the Massachusetts special education law Chapter 766 was passed, which required that all school districts provide education in a new and more inclusive way for students with special needs residing in their communities. The Collaborative for Educational...
New Title IX Rule Has Explicit Ban on Discrimination of LGBTQ+ Students
The new rule expands the definition of sex discrimination but doesn’t address transgender athletes’ participation in school sports LGBTQ+ students will receive explicit legal protection from sex discrimination and harassment under a long-awaited revision of Title...
Two local school advocates tapped to lead state’s new Small and Rural Schools Committee
As rural schools and their challenges continue to become a more prominent topic at the state level, two local champions of Franklin County’s schools have been tapped to serve as co-chairs of the Massachusetts Association of School Committees’ (MASC) new Small and...
Supporting Access to Educational Technology
In 1987, schools and districts were not commonly thinking about educational technology as a means to level the playing field for student opportunity. But CES (then named HEC) Executive Director Earl Batchelder was already testifying about it at the state hearings...
Teaching disability history in schools is ‘long overdue,’ advocates say
Judy Heumann’s death last year was deeply felt in the disability community. Often called “the mother” of the disability rights movement, her activism had a lasting impact on millions of Americans. Yet many people don’t know her name. “She was a really strong...
Student-Centered Programs Help Kids Feel Connected
“I love creating a community in the building and the students are part of that. The After School Program helps our kids to feel connected and that they have a voice.” – Lesley Wilson, JFK Middle School Principal, 2007 The first CES After School/21st Century...
$100,000 Urban Agenda Grant Awarded to Enhance Food Security and Community Leadership in Hampshire County
The Collaborative for Educational Services’ Healthy Hampshire initiative is thrilled to announce a $100,000 grant from the Executive Office of Economic Development's Urban Agenda Grant Program to the Hampshire County Food Policy Council (HCFPC) for its Food Policy...
At state budget hearing at GCC, school officials share unique challenges faced by rural districts
GREENFIELD — At the Joint Committee on Ways and Means’ fiscal year 2025 state budget hearing on Friday, the focus was on statewide education and local aid. At the regional level, though, legislators, school officials and community members from up and down the...
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