Public commenters raise concerns about ESE restructuring and staff changes at Turie T. Small

At the 6 p.m. public-input period on March 25 several speakers urged the board to slow or revisit personnel and operational changes in the district’s Exceptional Student Education (ESE) operations and to postpone a personnel decision at Turie T. Small Elementary School.

Why it matters: speakers described wide-reaching operational changes affecting ESE staff and students — including the reported elimination of 30 school-based IEP facilitator positions and creation of five “student staffing specialists” — and said the workload and logistics of the replacement positions have not been fully defined. Separately, a teacher and a school community asked the board to reconsider or postpone a termination decision and described damaged school culture at Turie T. Small.

Elizabeth Albert, who identified herself during public input as speaking about the ESE restructuring, said…