Evergreen review finds staffing model misaligned with inclusive special education approach

Evergreen School District (Clark) officials told the board Tuesday that a recent management-and-operations review by the Washington Association of School Administrators (WASA) and an internal staffing analysis show the districtneeds to change how it allocates special education staff.

Dr. Brian Fox, director of teaching, learning and equity, summarized the WASA review and said the core question the team asked was "Is the special education department using and managing operating systems in a manner that serves all stakeholders efficiently and effectively?" The WASA team conducted 21 interviews and reviewed district documents, Fox said.

The review recommended the district develop a plan to foster "districtwide consistency, collaboration, and communication in supporting inclusive practice," create a special education department advisory team, and convene a committee to review instructional materials for an inclusive model, Fox said.

Dr. Matt Bennett, who will begin as senior director of special services July 1 but has been leading the department since December, told the board that Evergreenfound multiple schools were understaffed in a December 2024 districtwide review. "Getting it right is essential," Bennett said, describing a new, proactive staffing approach that uses four years of enrollment trends to project needs and allocate staff earlier in the hiring cycle.

Both speakers said the district's prior staffing matrix was a holdover from a model that placed students in specialized programs by disability. In an inclusive neighborhood-school model, Fox said, "the staffing model which is used to determine how much special education staffing or FTE is necessary at each school is based on a student's identified disability. This is a remnant of the previous service delivery model and it is recommended that we modify this matrix to reflect the inclusive model I just described." The WASA team called the old staffing matrix "incongruous" with current practice.

The review also found an overreliance on 1:1 paraeducators. WASA urged the district to explore alternative supports and to develop a structured plan to "gradually fade paraeducator support," focusing on skill building and independence, Fox said. District staff described steps already under way: deeper data analysis, earlier hiring, cross-department collaboration among HR, finance and operations, and more targeted professional development for general-education teachers working in inclusive classrooms.

Board members asked whether the district is tracking missed IEP minutes and the current paraeducator vacancy count. Fox and Bennett said the district began tracking missing instructional minutes as the problem was identified; compensatory education plans (after-school tutoring, additional in-school time, and summer school where needed) were put in place for affected students. Fox said the district will begin routine internal tracking of missing IEP minutes in the 2025-26 school year. The exact number of current open paraeducator positions was not specified; staff said they would follow up with that figure to the board.

The presentation concluded with district officials saying the staffing changes and tracking systems are intended to move Evergreen from reactive to proactive staffing so students receive timely services across the year.