Acting superintendent: federal education grant changes, substitute workforce and special-education staffing

Acting Superintendent Dr. Strasser told the Rapid City Area School District 51-4 board the district must close out a federal schoolwide mental health grant by December, but other grants such as the Department of Justice COPS grant remain in place.

Strasser said district leaders will "utilize what we can of that grant and then close that out accordingly." The announcement came during Strasser's end-of-year report to the board, which also highlighted staffing trends and substitute-teacher contributions.

Why this matters

The loss of the Department of Education schoolwide mental health funding affects programs that were supported at the federal level and requires staff to transition roles or find other funding sources before the December closeout. At the same time, district officials said some counseling positions previously funded by the grant were moved into open non-grant counseling positions.

Key details from the report

- Grant changes: Dr. Strasser said the district will receive partial funds from the Department of Education but must close out the grant by December. The Department of Justice COPS grant continues to be available and unaffected.

- Substitute workforce: Strasser highlighted the district's substitute pool: 14 substitutes with about 15 years of continuous service, 15 substitutes with 10–14 years, 26 with five to nine years, and 54 substitutes who worked more than 100 days this year. "We had 50 subs who are in their seventies or eighties subbing in our district," Strasser told the board, noting their dedication.

- Special education staffing and recruitment: When asked by a board member about special-education staffing, Strasser said the district has made progress but still faces a substantial need, estimating "probably 15 or so" direct special-education teacher openings. The district plans a targeted marketing campaign with Homeslice starting June 4 to recruit special-education staff; Director Strong had reserved funds for that effort.

- Teleteaching and teletherapy: Later in the meeting, Dr. Coleman (district staff) said the district had used five teleteachers this year for special education and expects to have no teletherapy speech positions next year because all speech positions had been filled. However, Coleman said the district would likely still need teleteachers for other special-ed positions given current vacancies.

Board questions and follow-up

Board members asked whether grant-funded positions would be lost when the mental health grant ends; Strasser said counseling positions that were filled were moved into open, non-grant counseling positions so there was no immediate position loss. Members also asked about publicity around salary changes and recruitment; staff said they will follow up on marketing and communications plans.

Ending

Board members asked Strasser and staff to return with updates as recruitment and grant closeouts proceed. The district will launch the special-education recruitment campaign on June 4 and continue to monitor the impacts of federal grant changes.