Teachers, parents urge board to pause plan to cut intervention specialists

At the East Whittier City School District board meeting, multiple teachers and parents urged the board to pause a proposed hybrid staffing plan that would eliminate most intervention specialist positions and replace them with shared coaches.

Speakers said site-based intervention specialists provide intensive small-group instruction for students who are behind in foundational skills, and they questioned the district's data and cost assumptions underlying the restructuring. "We have something that's working. Let's not throw it away without a better plan and the evidence to back it up," said Yvonne Humble, a second-grade teacher at Murphy Ranch, noting that 16 second-graders identified as at-risk showed an average of 1.7 years' growth after pullout interventions.

Supporters of the current…