Parents, teachers and social workers urge board to keep RTI pullout program and preserve district social-work roles

At the March 11 Tehachapi Unified School District board meeting, more than a dozen teachers, social workers and parents told trustees that proposed changes to district student-support staffing would harm students who rely on focused, small-group interventions and established counseling relationships.

Speakers described two separate but related staffing issues: 1) a district plan to eliminate teacher-led RTI pullout positions and replace them with a learning-director/aid “push-in” model paid from Title I funds, and 2) a personnel directive requiring several current school-based mental-health staff to obtain a Pupil Personnel Services (PPS) credential in social work or be terminated.

The RTI speakers said the pullout model — a credentialed teacher plus instructional aides running nine 30-minute focused groups per day — delivers measurable gains for students well below grade level and cannot be replicated by occasional push-in support. “Nothing in education is more important than making sure every single student can read,” said Becky Sasha, RTI teacher at Tompkins, who described grouping and progress-monitoring for 162 students a day at her site. Jessica Smith, vice president of the Tehachapi Association of Teachers, told the board that Golden Hills RTI currently serves about 100 students in reading and 60 in math and that midyear data showed reading growth of roughly 8 to 26 percent and math growth of 4 to 13 percent for students in RTI groups.

Social workers who addressed the board said a separate personnel decision has put longstanding district mental-health staff at risk. Carrie Colby, a school social worker at Jacobson Middle School, said she and four colleagues were informed in January that they did not possess the PPS social-work credential and were being asked to enroll immediately in a graduate credentialing program and complete 1,000 hours of supervised experience or face termination. “For Mrs. Anderson and myself, this would mean that we would need to enroll in another master’s program — a $60,000 master’s program,” Colby said, summarizing the district’s stated pathway.

Other social workers and teachers recounted cases where ongoing relationships and timely interventions prevented crises. Michelle Anderson, Golden Hills social worker, described students who returned to school immediately after traumatic events because district social workers provided immediate support; Dan Moon, a Jacobson teacher, recounted an instance where a social worker helped a student who was self-harming feel cared for and reengage with school.

Board members and superintendent. Interim Superintendent Francis Lynch acknowledged the scale of community concern and said he would place the RTI issue on the board’s next meeting agenda. At the March meeting trustees did not adopt a personnel action on the social-work credentialing item; staff were asked to provide additional information to the board.

Why it matters: RTI and on-site mental-health staff are central to the district’s strategy for reading recovery and student stability at school. Parents and teachers told trustees that shifting limited Title I funding away from teacher-led intervention or requiring costly credentialing of veteran mental-health staff could reduce direct services for students identified as most at-risk.

What trustees asked for next: multiple speakers asked the board to pause hiring of two “learning director” positions funded from Title I until the board reviews the role and funding; several speakers requested a board investigation of Title I allocations and a collaborative working group. Superintendent Lynch said he would place RTI on the next agenda for board review and that district staff would follow up on the social-work credential questions.

Community details and numbers cited: Golden Hills RTI numbers (approx. 100 reading; 60 math; roughly 90 students receiving daily targeted instruction at one site); reported growth ranges from site presenters (reading 8–26 percent, math 4–13 percent); five district social workers were named in testimony as impacted by the credentialing issue; Colby and others said the personnel department had been aware these staff were employed without the PPS social-work credential for years.

The board did not take final action on RTI or the social-worker credentialing issue on March 11; trustees requested additional documentation and placed RTI on a forthcoming agenda for further discussion.