Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Teachers, parents tell Manchester school board special education staffing crisis threatens student services
Summary
Multiple teachers and residents said recent involuntary transfers, resignations and insufficient communication have created a "special education and leadership crisis"; administrators described caseload shifts, offered staffing counts, and reported increased hiring of paraprofessionals and conversions from contract providers.
Residents and teachers told the Manchester School Committee on April 14 that special education staffing and district communication failures have put students and classroom teams at risk.
"We are in a special education and leadership crisis in Manchester," Patricia Hurley, a longtime teacher, told the board during public comment. Hurley and other classroom teachers said an involuntary transfer of a special education teacher led to that teacher resigning because she "did not feel she had sufficient information" to provide an appropriate education. "If somebody had just talked to me, I know they could have convinced me to stay," Hurley said.
Deborah Todd, a 28-year teacher, asked the district to be transparent about tools and supports staff can use; she said teachers discovered only by accident that the district's digital platform could translate documents into…
Already have an account? Log in
Subscribe to keep reading
Unlock the rest of this article — and every article on Citizen Portal.
- Unlimited articles
- AI-powered breakdowns of topics, speakers, decisions, and budgets
- Instant alerts when your location has a new meeting
- Follow topics and more locations
- 1,000 AI Insights / month, plus AI Chat
