A part-time special education position has been vacant since the beginning of the academic year. PHS administration has been actively searching for a teacher, but no one has been hired to fill this role permanently.
The unfilled job is a 60 percent position for Learning Center, said Home Base teacher and special education co-department chair Nicholas Bruno. Learning Center is an additional support period for students who qualify for special education services, such as extended time for tests.
“It’s a part-time position teaching periods two, four, and six,” Bruno said. “The teacher would only come in on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday.”
Bruno said there has been a rotation of special education and general education teachers subbing for the class, which confused students and teachers alike.
“For teachers, it’s been difficult figuring out where tests go for an extended time,” Bruno said. “We’ve also had to rely on the counseling office to enter grades, because no one has access to the [Infinite Campus] for that class as there’s no full-time position.”
The lack of a consistent teacher has created communication issues, said resource specialist and special education co-department chair Emily Hook.
“It’s incredibly confusing,” Hook said. “There’s nobody there to manage the day-to-day stuff with the students and the class.”
An anonymous student in the Learning Center class without a teacher, Matilda*, said she worries that the freshmen in Learning Center will fall behind due to the constant rotation of substitute teachers.
“When I was in support freshman year, I learned how to be a successful student with a learning disability,” Matilda said. “You have to self-advocate, self-motivate, and enact change. I feel like the freshmen this year are not getting that.”
Furthermore, Learning Center students will not get to review their Individualized Education Program (IEP) with a teacher that knows them. An IEP is a legal document that encompasses a special education student’s disabilities and accommodations.
“Every year special education students will have a meeting with their support teacher to review their IEP, but this year that meeting is with the director [of special education],” Matilda said. “The director doesn’t know anything about us so she can’t really say much.”
Special education teachers can take up to 28 kids on a caseload. However, Hook said teachers do not max out on their caseload to leave room for students who qualify for special education during the school year.
“As one of the co-department chairs, a lot of people come to me with questions, but the [kids in the class without a permanent teacher] are not on my caseload,” Hook said. “So really, I don’t know their accommodations, I don’t know their schedules, I don’t know them. Asking me isn’t helpful because I don’t have the answers.”
Hook said that there was a search for a teacher to fill the position up until winter break. Various interviews were held and the position was even offered to two people who decided to accept positions elsewhere.
“When we returned from break, the decision was made to not continue with interviews because we’re so late in the year,” Hook said. “There is an agreement for someone with special ed credentials to sub for the remainder of the year. They will cover the class and case manage the students, but they won’t be starting until mid-March.”
Vice-principal Irma Muñoz said that the position will be posted again at the end of the school year.
“Whether it be this credentialed sub who’s coming in, who we are very happy to have, or a new candidate, the intent is to fill this position on a permanent basis,” Muñoz said.
Hook said the best way to prevent this situation from happening again in the future would be to make the position full-time.
“A [60 percent] position is really undesirable for special ed because there’s so much involved,” Hook said. “There are open special ed positions everywhere, and more often they’re full-time positions.”
The open position has been posted by PHS administration since last summer, but Bruno said it is hard to fill a part-time position when teachers are not being compensated enough in general.
“We’re not the only district grappling with this issue,” Bruno said. “All of California is struggling to fill special ed positions.”
Hook said it is crucial that we rally behind the students who are being affected by this teacher vacancy.
“We’re asking a lot of [these students] because they don’t have anyone to support them,” Hook said. “We’re asking 14- and 15-year-old kids to have communication skills, self-advocacy skills, and to manage their life and their priorities when we really should be offering them more help.”
