2014-2015 crossroads school annual report

7/21/2019 2014-2015 Crossroads School Annual Report

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2015 ANNUAL REPORT



TABLE OF CONTENTS

Letter from the President and CEO 1

Letter from the Board Chair 2

Mission and Vision 3

Our School 4

Program Highlights 5

Educational and Behavioral Services

Speech– Language Pathology

Physical Therapy

Occupational Therapy

Vocational Program

Home Services

What Crossroads Means to Us

By Roger White and Daniel Bandanza 12

2014-2015 Event Highlights 13

Achievements 14

Financial Update 15



Dear Families and Friends,

The 2014/2015 school year was one characterized by many accomplishments. The year kicked o with

the iniaon of a strategic planning process to determine priories and direcons for the school in the

next 3-5 years. A task force of individuals represenng all parts of our community was formed to work

with our consultant, Jane Fisher, who guided the process and helped develop the plan. Jane carried out

extensive informaon gathering sessions with close to 100 members of the community—sta at all

levels, Board Trustees, parents, and external stakeholders.

The themes that emerged led to the creaon of four broad strategic goals. With a unied understanding

of were we are, where we are going, and how we are going to get there, our community set to the task

of implemenng the strategic plan. From this plan several early successes were accomplished.

One early success was the physical expansion of our school onto the second oor of the building to beer accommodate the ne eds

of our students and sta. The PAES Vocaonal Lab is now a beer equipped facility to teach its vast array of skills; our growing

Home Services Department now has much needed oce space; and the addional conference rooms have relieved scheduling

dicules for the many family meengs that occur each day. As we look to the future, the Board of Trustees and I will be focused

on nding a permanent campus for Crossroads School.

While the prospect of nding a permanent campus is excing, we must be mindful that it is also an expensive endeavor. As such,

our future fundraising eorts are of paramount importance. I am pleased to highlight another success of the last school year—the

formaon of a Development Department and the hiring of our new Development Director, Kelley Borer -Miller, to generate

unprecedented levels of support and engagement from sta, families, and community partners.

Another success was our “Legislator’s Day,” which was scheduled to help usher in Ausm Awareness Month. In addion to raising

awareness, addional goals of the event included elevang the prole of Crossroads and advocang for fair funding in the

Commonwealth’s budget. Legislators’ Day also provided an opportunity for our Senators and Representaves (nearly 20 of them)

to see the high quality services we deliver 226 days of the year.

Indeed, the 2014/2015 school year played host to many accomplishments and those accomplishments are breeding even more. Of

course, none would have been possible without the support of our sta, families, Board of Trustees, donors, corporate sponsors,

and foundaon contributors. On behalf of the students, I thank you for your dedicaon to our mission.

As always, it is an honor and a privilege for me to both serve and lead this community.

Best Regards,

Anthony Cammilleri, Ph.D., BCBA-D

President/CEO

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT AND CEO

1



LETTER FROM THE BOARD CHAIR

Crossroads Community,

I am fortunate and honored to serve as the Chair of the Board

of Trustees. Over the past two years, it has been wonderful to

witness all of the great things that are happening under the

leadership of our President and senior sta.

The Annual Report is like the State of the Union and as you

will see, the state of our union is good. It is a very excing

me at our school, one of both stability and growth, which go

hand in hand. Stability and steady leadership have allowed our

census to increase, which in turn has made our nancial situaon a posive one.

The stability also allows us to focus on the future and areas that are in need of aenon

and improvement. Crossroads School is barely a decade old and in that short me the

focus has remained squarely where it should – providing the best possible learning

environment for our students. Our dedicated sta will never lose that focus and now the

administraon, board and our Parent Advisory Group (PAG) can turn their aenon to

long-term sustainability and growth of the school from a fundraising perspecve.

Several important things have happened over the past year on that front includingsuccessful fundraisers, the creaon of our rst development director posion and a

handful of posive grant applicaons. Addionally, new Trustees have been appointed

to the Board allowing for increased capacity from a leadership and fundraising

perspecve. All of these steps are posive, but they are just the beginning in providing

the addional resources required to connue to provide a high level of educaon for our

students and to foster the great work environment for our sta. Whether it is a new

school building to call our own, eld trips, or new technologies to augment and support

learning; all of these things will require funds and we are commied to raising those

funds to make our good school great.

All of these accomplishments and our plan for the future are very personal to me as the

parent of a student who has aended Crossroads for the last ve years. I cannot say

enough about the posive experience my family has had with Crossroads and theamazing sta. Our son has grown so much during his me here. When he started, he

had many challenging behaviors that have been signicantly decreased. He has learned

so many life skills. His language and ability to communicate has increased. All posive

things, and all typical experiences for our students at Crossroads School.

I hope as you read the pages of this report, you share my pride for all the progress we ’ve

made and my excitement for the road ahead.

Respecully,

Albert Rex

Board of Trustees, Chair

Board of Trustees

Albert Rex

Chair

Scot Butcher

Vice Chair

Martin Kirshner

Treasurer

Jeff Sands

Secretary

Greg Angland

Trustee

Mark Diebus

Trustee

Thomas J. Giblin, III, Esq.

Trustee

Andrey Lyalko, MBA

Trustee

Anthony Cammilleri, Ph.D.

Ex Oficio

Frank Lossani

Ex Oficio

2



MISSION & VISION

Our mission is to provide individualized, comprehensive educaon and related

services to students with ausm to enhance quality of life and independent

funconing, so they may achieve their full potenal.

The vision of Crossroads School is to ensure every student leaves more skillful,

condent, producve, and independent than when he or she rst arrived. This

includes preparing students to return to their home districts when possible, as

well as transioning students to adulthood with the skills necessary to be

producve members of society.

Strategic Plan

In February, we developed a strategic plan to outline Crossroads’ priories for

the next several years. The foundaon of the plan is in the four strategic

direcons which idenfy interrelated priories for the future. Each strategic

direcon is supported by several strategies that indicate how Crossroads will

move forward.

The Four Strategic Direcons focus on:

1. Core Services

2. Expanding Complementary Services

3. Leadership and Communicaon

4. Financial Strength

3



OUR SCHOOL

Crossroads School has the capacity to serve 60 students, ages 3 to 22. All of our students have a diagnosis of

Ausm and require a specialized academic seng. The majority of our students reside within an hour’s drive

of Nack, with a large concentraon coming from districts within the local MetroWest area, as you can see

on the map below.

Crossroads School and staff

are proud members of: Massachuses Associaon of

Chapter 766 Approved

Private Schools (maaps)

Associaon for Behavior

Analysis Internaonal (ABAI)

Associaon of Professional

Behavior Analysts (APBA)

Berkshire Associaon for

Behavior Analysis and

Therapy (BABAT)

Special Needs Advocacy

Network (SPAN)

Associated Industries of

Massachuses (AIM)

Rotary Club of Nack

MetroWest Chamber ofCommerce

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I know this is the right placement

for my son because no matter the

day - vacation, weekend, etc, … he

ALWAYS says, "Go back to

Crossroads tomorrow! ”

- Stacey, Jagger’s Mom



PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: EDUCATIONAL AND BEHAVIORAL

As we look back with pride at the many

Educaonal and Behavioral

accomplishments of the 2014-15 school

year, we are especially proud of the

collaboraon that occurs between our

families and faculty. The ability to form a

team of adults who problem-solve together,

who work to enhance the quality of life and

independent funconing of students, who

help each student achieve their full

potenal, is our collecve vision and a

hallmark of the Crossroads experience.

Skill acquision and the reducon of

problem behavior are the avenues we, as a

team, pursue to help each student achieve

meaningful outcomes. These areas work in

concert and should not be conceptualized

as separate. One of the contribung factors

to problem behavior (tantrums, etc.) is a lack of alternave and more graceful core communicaon skills.

The acquision of these skills contributes signicantly to the reducon of problem behavior. We work toreduce behavioral excess by increasing funconally equivalent replacement skills.

5

Crossroads School has literallychanged our son and has given usnew hope. Without the hard workand dedication of the wonderful

staff, we would be lost. This is

only our son’ s second year, but wehave already witnessed great

progress. I can not speak enoughabout how thankful we are.

- Terrique, Jaylen’s Dad

We consider ourselves fortunate to work with the students of Crossroads School. We are

thankful for our partnership with each family and we are grateful for and motivated by the

trust that is bestowed in us.

- Kevin Hardy, MS, Ed, Program and Education Director



Over the past year Crossroads invested signicantly in

assessment technology. We are producing meaningful

improvements in problem behavior using synthesized

funconal analyses to guide treatment. We are also

producing meaningful improvements in the aainment of

measurable goals and objecves based on assessments

of core skills and more advanced academic skills. In

combinaon our new assessment technology gives us the

ability to select the most appropriate target and measure

progress over me.

In monthly Student Day Parent Meengs, we give

families the opportunity to experience Crossroads

School’s classrooms and job sites. We are proud of these

learning environments and how they allow for students

to receive individual and small group instrucon. We areconstantly making addions to both our customized and

our commercially available curriculum; and we ensure

our faculty members have the tools needed to provide a

state-of -the art educaon for each of our students.

6

From my experience supervising many out

of district placements and public school

ABA programs, Crossroads has a high level

of expertise. The staff are well adept atworking with students with academic and

behavioral challenges and involve the

parents in the process to facilitate

generalization.

- Out of District Coordinator Survey, 2015

In the past year, Crossroads sta formed a

"desense" research group. The group is led byDr. Keira Moore and consists of approximately 10

sta members including ABA counselors,

teachers, and occupaonal therapists. The

desense research group meets once a week aer

school and focuses on understanding, assessing,

and treang anxiety and challenging behavior in

contexts that many children with ausm have

trouble with like dental visits, haircuts, or loud

environments. Over the last few months, thedesense group has been focusing on reviewing

research related to anxiety and desensizaon,

idenfying potenal parcipants at Crossroads,

and creang treatment protocols.



PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY

The Speech Department has been up to many excing

things this past year! With 93% of students receiving direct

speech services and 62% of students using augmentave

and alternave communicaon (AAC) systems, it is a top

priority to ensure carryover of speech-language

programming across sta members and the school day.

Our ulmate goal is to make our students beer

communicators. This year the Speech Department gave an

all-school training on AAC Systems which highlighted the

importance of AAC use across the school day as well as

ways to model eecve communicaon for students.

Another highlight of the past year includes the

implementaon of monthly speech consistency meengs.

During these meengs, the classroom Speech-Language

Pathologists (SLP) and Speech-Language Pathologist

Assistants (SLPA) meet with classroom sta to review

speech programs, brainstorm treatment ideas, and conduct

trainings on communicaon systems.

Finally, the SLPs traveled to Orlando, FL for the Annual

ASHA Convenon Conference. There they gained valuable

skills to beer assess and treat speech and language

challenges, including arculaon, voice, recepve and

expressive language skills, and pragmac language skills.

7



PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: PHYSICAL THERAPY

We have found Crossroads to be the only school

to address health, itness, teamwork, and team

sports in such a dedicated manner. As parents,

it appears to us that Crossroads views health

and athletics as the crucial part of life that itis, and not just an added beneit. Crossroads is

where Roger learned to ride a bike and where

he always looks forward to participating in

Special Olympics.

- Roger’s dad

8

The Physical Therapy (PT) Department has made a number of great

improvements over the last year. Some highlights include: improvedcollaboraon with classroom teachers to increase opportunies for

physical acvity, vising analyses to teach safe liing techniques, trouble-

shoong student transfers and problem solving with the team to improve

student’s overall health and well-being. The Physical Therapist has paired

up with the Adapted Physical

Educaon (APE) instructor to

design individual exercise

programs and help bridge gaps

between direct services and

consultave and community

parcipaon.

Our department has also

furthered our knowledge and

resource library through

aending APTA’s naonal secon

on Pediatrics conference in

Pisburgh, PA. Here, there was a

focus on the importance of parcipaon and wellness for the

populaon we serve and how important the PT’s role is in

developing and enriching these aspects of our students’ lives.

I like PT because it ’ s fun doing balance.

–Cameron, Student in Franklin Road



PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: OCCUPATIONAL THERAPY

The Occupaonal Therapy (OT) program made many gains in the past

year. Our highlights include, providing a variety of new pieces of

therapeuc equipment to expand the number of learning opportunies

for students. The department also expanded the life skills program to

include addional chore skills for pracce, addional adaptaons and

modicaons to foster independence, and the introducon of acvies

of daily living groups to supplement our chore skills groups. With the

addion of these groups, the department created maintenance and

generalizaon books for the classrooms to build upon previously

mastered skills.

We also further specialized our department through connuing

educaon eorts by aending the Massachuses Associaon for

Occupaonal Therapy and the American Occupaonal Therapy Associaon Annual Conferences, in addionto adopng Handwring Without Tears. With the informaon obtained through these conferences, the

department conducted a school-wide training on

handwring and adaptaons to increase independence

with wrien work.

9



PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: VOCATIONAL PROGRAM

The Vocaonal Program at Crossroads aims to

increase student independence. Students begin to

access internal vocaonal training at age 15. The

Praccal Assessment Exploraon System (PAES) for

vocaonal training provides assessment,

exploraon, and training through hands-on

experience in a simulated work environment.

Students are assessed in terms of interest, speed,independence, and accuracy. Using these

assessments students are given the opportunity to

pracce skills in simulated work sengs within the

school. The program contains 5 job categories and

over 250 job skills. The advantage of internal

vocaonal training is that the workload,

expectaons, and diculty of the job can be

individualized for each student which allows for

the work to be systemacally adjusted to meet the

students’ needs.

External vocaonal training begins between the

ages of 16 and 18. Work sites are carefully chosen

by reviewing the vocaonal assessment and

current progress, as well as student interest and

available work sites.

Crossroads is proud to

partner with these local

businesses:

Debsan Paint Store

Goodnow Library

Longfellow Fitness Center

Leukemia & Lymphoma Society

Natick Recycling

Newton Wellesley Hospital

Performing Arts Center ofMetrowest

Putts & More

Russell’s Garden Center

Savers

Sudbury Historical Society

Sunrise Senior Living

Tilly's Bacon Street Farm

10

Their work has been exemplary. Students are organized, neat, and

professional. During our busiest season, they were able to complete

their tasks eficiently. It is sincerely a pleasure to have them work

here—they went about their work with great zeal and contributed

to the store’ s overall customer experience.”

- Russell’s Garden Center

Crossroads School has made a wonderful partnership with Sunrise

of Wayland by bringing their students to our community and

completing various work duties. Our community greatly beneits

from the additional assistance.

- Sunrise Senior Living of Wayland



PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS: HOME SERVICES

In its rst year, Crossroads School’s Home Services Team helped students achieve independence at home and

in the community by expanding learning opportunies beyond the classroom. Personal independence for

each individual is achieved through an educaonal partnership between school, community, and family.

Twenty-one students are currently served and we will expand as soon as addional sta are hired.

The goal of Crossroads’ Home Services is to teach parents how to use the techniques of Applied Behavior

Analysis (ABA) in the home and community sengs to help generalize the skills taught in the school.

Students enrolled in

Crossroads’ Home Services are

making progress on 90%

of their behavior reduction goals.

11

I was able to have Shane participate inBring Your Kid to Work Day “ BYKTWD”

at my company. This involved 85 kidsvisiting our building in the city. Wetook the train and a taxi! Shane got tobe just like every other kid,

participating in all the events. Without Shane’ s Case Manager, this wouldn’ thave been possible. Shane thoroughlyenjoyed himself and loved being withall the kids. It made me realize howimportant Home Services are and thatinclusion will be an option for him atthings like this.

- Tina, Shane’s mom



WHAT CROSSROADS MEANS TO US

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Hi, my name is Daniel. I ’ m 18 years old. I started at Crossroads School when I was 10 years old.

When I irst came to Crossroads, I didn’ t like staying in my seat to learn or to get my haircut. Crossroads

helped me become and adult. I love my school!

My favorite things about school are ield trips with my friends, working at Newton Wellesley Hospital,

going on the treadmill, and working at Salvation Army. My Crossroads’ teachers taught me to buy and

make my own lunches, sit at a desk and learn, and to be more independent.

Because I came to Crossroads, I met my irst real friends. But, my best friend is Roger.

We have been in classes together for the past 5 years.

We eat lunch together every day, hang out on

weekends, and watch videos and movies together, like

the Jungle Book and Wizard of Oz.

We even go on vacation together! Our families are

friends, too!

It ’ s awesome having

someone to talk to

and hang out with

who is just like me.

Crossroads taught usnot only how to be

adults, but how to

talk to and work with

others so we can be

best friends!!!

Hi, my name is Roger. I ’ m 19 years old.

I started at Crossroads School when I was 13. Back then, I had a hard time talking to people. It was tough

for me to sit and learn in a group quietly. My teacher helped me so much and I love my school.

My favorite things about school are earning the iPad, going to work at the farm, and going to Target with

my friends. I like talking to my friends and teachers. I can walk the halls by myself now. I even get to go

out to work, too. I work at the Natick Organic Farm, Salvation Army, and Crossroads School Store.

The best thing about Crossroads is now I have a best friend, Daniel!



2014-2015 EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

More than 11,000 books

collected during book

drive for library

Mutual One Grant funds

Crossroads’ Garden Project

Parent Advisory Group

(PAG) raises $20,000 with

the Crossroads 5k

Crossroads Students help

the Natick Rotary deliver

meals to families in need

Crossroads’ irst year

participating at the

Special Olympics Games

at Natick High School

Siblings join Crossroads Students

at school two days a week for our

Summer Sibling Camp

In partnership with maaps,

Crossroads hosts nearly 20

Legislators on Legislators’ Day

Students showcase their

talents at the Variety

Show—our most popular

event of the year

13

Dr. Greg Hanley consults

Crossroads Staff on the treatment

of severe challenging behavior

Flutie Foundation Grant

funds purchase of

SmartBoard



ACHIEVEMENTS

STAFF AWARDS

Greg Walton M.Ed., Assistant Education and Clinical Director, receives maaps’ “Excellence in Teaching” Award

Ben Bruneau, M.Ed., BCBA, Clinical Director, receives Jerry Shook Practitioner Award at 2014 BABAT Conference

ADVANCED DEGREES

Keira Moore—PhD, BCBA-D

Jonathan Hudson, M.Ed.

Erica Lewis, M.Ed.

Gretchen Martinez, M.Ed.

Rachel Mendes, M.Ed.

Melissa McKenzie, MS,Ed.

Meaghan Reddy, MS,Ed.

BCBA

Amy Monfreda, CCC-SLP, BCBA

CERTIFICATIONS

Kristen Bellemare—Graduate Certiicate in BehavioralIntervention in Autism

MAAPS STUDENT AWARDS

Daniel B and Roger W—Honorable Mention

PROFESSIONAL CONFERENCES

Keira Moore and Frances Nieves presented a poster. “Assessment and Treatment of Anxiety in an Individual withAutism,” at the Association for Behavior Analysis Annual International Conference; San Antonio, TX

PUBLICATIONS

Santiago, J., Hanley, G., Moore, K., & Jin, C.S. (in press). The Generality of Interview-Informed FunctionalAnalyses: Systematic Replications in School and Home. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders.

Moore, K.,

Cividini, C., Clark, K., & Ahearn, W. (2015). Sensory Integration as a Treatment for Automatically-

Reinforced Stereotypy. Behavioral Interventions,

30

(2),

p. 95

-111.

Sweeney, M., Moore, K., Shahan, T., DeLeon, I., Mace, F., Ahearn, W., Dube, W., & Nevin, A (2014). Modeling the

effects of sensory reinforcers on behavioral persistence with alternative reinforcement. Journal of theExperimental Analysis of Behavior, 102(2), 252-266.

Roscoe, E. M., Phillips, K. M., Kelly, M. A., Farber, R., & Dube, W. V. (2015). A statewide survey assessingpractitioners' use and perceived utility of functional assessment. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 48, 1-15.

Farber, R. S., Dube, W. V., & Dickson, C. A. (in press). A sorting-to-matching method to teach compoundmatching to sample. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis.

14

Crossroads School’s faculty maintain professionally current teaching repertoires so they remain on the

cung edge of the ever evolving eld of educaon. Sta are currently enrolled in advanced degree

programs at Endico College, Regis College, Simmons College, and Framingham State University.



FINANCIAL UPDATE

The nancial statements and nancial records of Crossroads School are audited yearly by an independent

accounng (CPA) rm. From our incepon in 2002, our nancial posion connues to strengthen due to the

use of solid accounng procedures combined with detailed reporng and a commitment to strong internal

controls that follow the rules of General Accepted Accounng Principles (GAAP).

The Accounng and Finance Oce oversees an operang budget that enables Crossroads School to provide

individualized, comprehensive educaon and related services to our students, and to administer the payment

of wages and benets for employees. The operang budget for Fiscal Year 2015 (July 1, 2014 to June 30,

2015) was $6,847,000 and the following is a breakdown of the funding sources that support this budget.

As you can see, 99% of revenue comes

from program service fees. These fees

allow for the “appropriate” poron of our

students’ educaon. We need to engageour community and local businesses to

grow the proporon of other sources of

revenue so we can take their educaon

“Beyond Appropriate.”

15

GRANTS Flutie Foundation—$5000

Michael Borr Fund Grant for purchase of a Smart Board

Town of Natick - $3280

Essential School Health Grant

Staples—$1000

Staples Foundation Grant

Mutual One Bank—$800

Mutual One Bank Grant for School Garden Program

Crossroads School - FY 2015 Budget

Program Service Fees 99% $ 6,808,000

Contribuons, Grants, & Other Revenue 1% $ 39,000

Crossroads 5k $ 25,000

Total Revenue 100% $ 6,847,000

Crossroads School - FY 2015

Program Service Fees

Contributions, Grant, &

Other Revenue



16

Revenue and Census Growth

Fiscal Year Revenue Census

2011 $4,005,000 47

2012 $4,659,000 49

2013

$5,911,000 54 2014 $6,413,000 56

2015 $6,847,000 58

In the last 5 scal years, total revenue has increased by

$2,842,000 from $4,005,000 in Fiscal Year 2011 to

$6,847,000 in Fiscal Year 2015 and is directly

aributable to an increased average student census

from 47 students in Fiscal Year 2011 to 58 students inFiscal Year 2015. Our growing reputaon, due to the

high quality services we deliver, has garnered greater

interest among families and school districts which keeps

us at or near our state imposed census cap of 60 on a

month to month basis.

As a part of the Strategic Plan adopted by the Board of Trustees, Strategic Direcon 4 oers a clear path to

the connued sustainable nancial strength of Crossroads School. The recent hiring of our DevelopmentDirector, combined with your help, will ensure the diversicaon of funding sources needed to support the

budget by increasing fundraising acvies.

In addion, our future move to a permanent facility will enhance both our short term and long term nancial

posion through building ownership vs building rental. Our new facility will also allow for increase student

census past the current census maximum of 60, which as you can see from the graph above is posively

correlated with our revenue.



A LOOK AHEAD

Crossroads School

Kelley Borer-Miller, Development Director

11 Huron Drive

Nack, MA 01760

www.crossroadsschoolma.org

www.facebook.com/CrossroadsSCHL

www.twier.com/ CrossroadsSCHL

Phone: 508.651.7500 x354

Fax: 508.651.7510

Tuesday, December 1, 2015

Donaons on #GivingTuesday will make a dierence for the students and families we serve. Donaons will

allow us to adopt new technologies, provide more resources to teachers, and strengthen our program.

With your support, our students will connue to make progress behaviorally, with daily living skills, and

communicaon – all of which will allow them to live as independently as possible.

Together, let’s go Beyond Appropriate.

www.give.CrossroadsSchoolMA.org/BeyondAppropriate

Sunday, May 15, 2016—Crossroads 5k

Join Crossroads School for our 4th Crossroads 5k hosted by Crossroads’

Parent Advisory Group!

www.Crossroads5k.org

Saturday, September 3, 2016—Bike to the Beach

A century ride from Boston, MA to Providence, RI beneng Ausm Speaks and Crossroads School.

www.BiketotheBeach.org/NewEngland

http://www.crossroadsschoolma.org/


http://www.facebook.com/CrossroadsSCHL


http://www.twitter.com/CrossroadsSCHL

http://www.twitter.com/CrossroadsSCHL



2014-2015 crossroads school annual report

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