Teachers and students praise Timberlane co‑teaching model; board asks about planning time
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Summary
District staff described a districtwide co‑teaching rollout that pairs general and special education teachers during math blocks to keep students in class and provide targeted support; students said having two teachers helped them learn in different ways and teachers asked for more common planning time to scale the model.
Timberlane educators and students presented the district’s co‑teaching model, which pairs a general education teacher and a special education teacher in the same classroom to deliver instruction and supports.
Lucy Kanotis, director of elementary education, and Amy Daley, a special education administrator, explained the rollout that began in 2022 and expanded to at least two co‑teaching teams in each school this year. They said the goal is to keep students in class, provide immediate accommodations and reduce fragmented pull‑out instruction.
Teachers described benefits such as increased engagement, more immediate interventions and the ability to present material in different ways. Jillian Haggett and Carly Slater (Pollard School) gave classroom examples of hands‑on projects, geometry activities and differentiated instruction.
Students gave direct testimony about how two teachers helped them: "I like having two teachers because I get to experience different ways they both teach" (student Elise Sanchez). Teachers and board members discussed barriers to expansion, notably the need for common planning time; co‑teaching teams currently meet Tuesdays and Fridays and use shared online tools when schedules do not align.
The board thanked students and staff and asked administrators to continue reporting classroom outcomes and, where feasible, provide more planning time to the teams.
