Amador County education officials told the SELPA board that five full‑time speech‑language pathologist positions are vacant and the district has contracted with outside providers to meet students’ Individualized Education Program (IEP) needs.

The staffing update was presented by Dr. Hedegard, who said the district contracts for the FTEs “to meet our obligation to provide the services.” The report listed all special‑education positions, highlighted vacancies, and showed one newly added full‑time position for students with extensive support needs that the district created to match caseload growth.

Why it matters: Speech‑language pathologists (SLPs) provide assessment and therapy many students with IEPs require. Board members pressed staff on pipelines, pay and retention; officials said recruitment relies on regional university partnerships and that enrollment caps at credential programs restrict the candidate pool.

Details: Dr. Hedegard said the district started the year with no vacancy in its newly created ESN (extensive support needs) teacher post and added the FTE this fall “based on caseload sizes.” On SLPs, she confirmed that contractors currently provide the services for the five vacant positions.

Board members asked whether the district’s pay scale is competitive. Dr. Hedegard said the district’s salary schedule is competitive for smaller nearby districts but not with larger employers such as Sac City Unified, and noted that public‑school employment includes STRS retirement benefits that may attract candidates despite lower current pay.

The district also said it maintains MOUs with several universities to support student teaching and internship pipelines, and that it participates in statewide SELPA conversations about expanding credential program capacity.

What the district will do next: Staff said recruitment and retention remain priorities and pointed to a recruitment/retention incentive negotiated this year; they also said master agreements with nonpublic agencies include 30‑day cancellation clauses so the district may hire employees directly if candidates appear.

No formal board action was taken; the staffing update was provided as information and will be revisited at future meetings.