The Lakeland Joint School District board voted to add multiple special-education paraprofessionals and a fractional high-school teaching allocation, officials said, to meet student needs identified during late summer enrollment and Individualized Education Program (IEP) obligations.
The district asked trustees to add 14 paraprofessional positions (about 7.97 FTE when converted from hourly schedules), one additional general education paraprofessional and a 0.16 increase in a high-school teaching contract to allow a stagecraft/drama offering to continue. Director of human resources Brooke Cunningham explained the additions were identified after the budget hearing to respond to changing student needs and routing of staffing across sites.
Board action: Trustees approved the additional positions by voice vote during the meeting (motion and second on the floor; vote recorded as unanimous at the time of the roll call on the motion). The district will post the new positions and begin hiring once the items are approved.
Budget implications: The administration said the district will cover costs from the working budget, which the CFO said will be updated in September after year-end accounting. The CFO estimated rough additional personnel costs — including paraprofessionals and the partial teacher contract — at roughly $375,000 in salary-related expenditures, noting exact amounts depend on hires’ experience and final placement on pay scales.
Why it matters: Special-education staffing is driven by federal and state requirements tied to student IEPs; administrators said additional staff are necessary to meet legally required services. Trustees asked questions about how the hires would be funded and whether enrollment shifts would alter the district’s earlier projections.
Next steps: The CFO and HR director will provide updated working-budget figures and a hiring timeline at the September board meeting; actual payroll impacts will be confirmed once individual hires are completed.