The Mars Area School District’s special and gifted education programs appear to have come a long way in the past year.

In early 2018, the district’s programs were found to be out of compliance with state rules in a number of areas, and some parents were calling the situation a “crisis.”

Earlier this year, parents noted that they’d seen “positive” changes in the program, and Travis Mineard, the district’s special education director, said that some aspects of the program that had been effective at the time the programs were criticized — especially its teachers — were lacking publicity.

This week, the district announced a great new idea to complement its programs: the creation of special education and gifted parent advisory committees that would be used to help parents better understand how the programs work.

“(We want) to hear parents, to hear their concerns,” Mineard said. “(And) improve both programs.”

The committees — which would include at least two parents per district school building, or 10 parents total — will train with the district and inform other parents about district matters.

We agree with Mineard that such a program would be beneficial to the district. Not only would it enable parents and other participants to get a closer glimpse at what is and isn’t working in the programs, but it would likely also give them a more streamlined method of proposing changes.

The new committees would hold quarterly meetings, initiate training sessions and host events that are open to parents of students in the programs. Mineard said that he intends to further benefit the district’s special and gifted programs by securing more funding and adding more staff.

Last year, the district’s programs drew criticism after the state’s Bureau of Special Education had found they were out of compliance with several rules, including one regarding a student’s capacity to be educated with nondisabled peers to the greatest extent possible, another involving parent and personnel training and a lack of documentation used for students transitioning from high school to college or the workforce.

When the district was found to be tackling those problems earlier this year, a Butler Eagle editorial praised parents of students in Mars’ special education programs for having packed school board meetings in 2018 to demand improvements.

Now, those parents can have a larger role in the programs. Mineard said the district has so far not received as many applications for volunteers as he had hoped, and noted that he believed the committee “will be a very good opportunity for parents to get involved with the school district.” We agree, and hope that more parents will sign up.