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Peoria Unified clarifies 'additional adult assistance' in IEPs to reduce service gaps; board seeks data and safeguards
Summary
Peoria Unified special education staff told the Governing Board May 8 they have moved from naming specific job titles in IEPs to a needs‑based 'additional adult assistance' (AAA) designation in the supplemental aids and services section to reduce gaps when an individual staff member is absent.
Dr. Hernandez, representing the district’s special education leadership, explained May 8 that Peoria Unified has standardized how it documents adult support in students’ Individualized Education Programs (IEPs) to reduce gaps when a single named staff member is absent.
Hernandez said the change focuses IEP wording on the student’s support needs rather than on a specific job title. “The transition from specific qualification references to the use of additional adult assistance was a change in practice and procedure to … focus on supporting the students’ needs,” Hernandez said. He said AAA lives in the IEP section called supplemental aids and services and can cover supports for mobility, medical needs, behavior regulation and academics. That wording permits a range of trained staff — instructional assistants, behavior interventionists, certified nursing assistants or others as qualified — to provide support consistent with the student’s IEP.
Hernandez said the change was introduced to promote clarity and consistency across schools; he traced the move to an effort covering the 2024–25 school year and said staff began updating IEPs during annual reviews in 2023–24. He said the district has seen fewer state process and OCR complaints and better audit results from the Arizona Department of Education since clarifying language and reducing overlapping job titles.
To give scale, Hernandez stated the district has about 5,101 IEPs and that 295 IEPs currently include the additional adult assistance language; he said most IEPs that required change have been updated but some remain to be completed for students returning from other districts or in transition (for example, from eighth grade to high school).
Board members raised concerns about training, accountability, and how parents would be notified when a different adult supports their child for a given day. Several members — including Mrs. Bowles and Mrs. Proudfit — urged that high‑need students keep consistent caregivers when possible and asked that the district document handoffs (Hernandez noted training is provided on district early‑release PD days and that IEPs include clarifying text about supports). Hernandez said the AAA approach is not intended to remove 1‑on‑1 support when that level of service is required; rather, AAA is intended to make the staffing pool more flexible so a trained backup can provide the same specified supports if the primary adult is unavailable.
Hernandez encouraged parents to reconvene an IEP team if they have concerns about continuity of adult support and said the district will continue to monitor outstanding updates, share training plans, and can report on how other districts handle similar language on request.
No board action was taken; members requested follow‑up information, including examples of training, how handoffs and logs will be documented for high‑need students, and whether peer districts have adopted similar terminology.
