Parent warns of special-education staffing shortfall; district pledges quarterly updates

A District 20 parent told trustees Aug. 11 that special-education vacancies are widespread and damaging services for students, and she urged the board to convert public concern into concrete action.

"Out of 162 jobs currently listed on the D20 openings page, 57, over a third are special-education positions. This is not a small gap, it's a crisis," said Veronica Baker during public comment. She cited staff departures and a single-school example of losing long-standing special-education personnel to another district.

Superintendent Haber and board members said the district has already planned more transparent reporting on special-education services. Haber described a planned quarterly special-education update that will include both celebrations and challenges and said the district will highlight paraprofessional mentoring and other staffing supports proposed by staff. She specifically referenced work by Dr. Belinda Luhan Lindsey on paraeducator mentoring and said that the board's earlier request for a better narrative on special education will include challenges as well as successes.

Baker urged the district to listen to staff and families and to take concrete actions to retain and recruit special-education personnel. "If you truly want to build a better narrative, start by listening to the community, understand the problems and take concrete steps to fix them," she said. Board members asked staff to report on turnover drivers and where departing staff were going.

Ending: The board did not adopt a new staffing policy at the meeting but directed the superintendent and human-resources staff to include a comprehensive special-education status report in upcoming monitoring cycles and to provide the requested data on vacancies and turnover.