Scranton SD special education director reports hires, contracts and compliance gains

Anne, director of special education for the Scranton School District, reported to the recovery committee that the district has made measurable progress on staffing, compliance and training for special education services.

Anne said the district has hired 21 district special‑education teachers since 2021–22, employs 29 emergency‑certified teachers and still has three special‑education teacher positions open. "As far as special education teachers go, we've hired 21 district special ed teachers," she said. She added that the district contracts with outside agencies to fill hard‑to‑staff roles and currently has 52 positions being filled by interim agencies, with 22 positions still open.

The update laid out the district’s steps to reduce costs and improve transitions: a new checklist and consultation process for students moving from fourth to fifth grade, school visits for parents, and a transition spreadsheet that documents academic levels and services. Anne said the district now has a full complement of supervisors and named Maggie Lotney as elementary supervisor and Greg Genecopoulos as secondary special‑education supervisor; she noted she was hired in January.

On professional development, Anne said the district replaced a master‑teacher program with the Vector program, is using PowerSchool and Vector for online training, and runs grant‑funded "boot camps" for teachers on IEP writing, classroom setup and evidence‑based interventions. She noted district‑wide SEL work with Character Strong and the implementation of System 44 and IXL for grades 5–12.

Anne described ongoing work with special‑education attorneys to review procedures and pending cases and said supervisory staff now review teacher paperwork to improve compliance with federal and state guidelines. She said the district submitted its special‑education plan to the state on time and satisfied identified corrections; transition surveys for 2023 graduates were completed and the office will follow up to see where graduates landed.

In questions, advocate Roseanne Polishen asked whether evaluation requests have increased and whether psychologist shortages were delaying evaluations. Anne said she has not seen a spike in evaluation requests and that the current group is maintaining compliance and timelines, though kindergarten intakes of previously unidentified students drove a notable portion of evaluations this year. On parent engagement, Anne said the district will emphasize outreach next school year and will publish materials on the district website.

The director closed by reiterating that some roles remain hard to fill and that the district is using contracted partners for critical positions while continuing recruitment. The recovery committee thanked Anne for the presentation and opened the next agenda item on the governor's budget.

The district will continue to report hiring progress, contract usage and implementation of training and parent engagement efforts at future recovery committee meetings.