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Special-education advisory committee reports staffing and participation challenges to board
Summary
The SEAC told the board it has seven community members and seven school representatives, updated outreach materials, and identified top concerns: paraprofessional pay, long-term substitute use, turnover in specialist roles and uneven staffing across schools.
Susan Hager, chair of the Special Education Advisory Committee (SEAC), and co-chair Kim Lee presented SEAC’s 2023–24 annual report and highlighted the committee’s role and key concerns.
Hager told the board the volunteer committee currently has seven community members and seven school representatives and meets about four times a year. SEAC reported outreach work including updated brochures and increased social-media activity, but said family participation remains limited.
The committee listed recurring concerns it brought to the board during 2023–24: the need for higher paraprofessional pay (a change the committee acknowledged has already occurred), long-term use of substitutes in special education, turnover in key specialist positions (learning specialists, speech and occupational therapy), uneven distribution of open positions across schools, and rising needs of typical special-education students without commensurate staffing increases.
SEAC said it has expanded virtual meeting options to increase participation and intends to bring more data to the board as momentum builds. The committee asked the board for guidance on outreach to families and committed to report progress to the board.
