Princeton board reviews special-education audit, begins implementing recommendations

The Princeton Public School District on Jan. 15 received a special-education audit presentation that outlined staffing shortages, inconsistent onboarding and uneven curriculum use across district sites and recommended early, low-cost steps to stabilize services.

"We looked at seven core areas: staff climate, schedules, recruiting and onboarding, collaboration, professional development, curriculum and instruction," said Tanya Tecker, executive director of special education for Round River (speaker 9), who led the audit presentation and said the review used staff surveys, listening sessions, classroom observations and HR and student-achievement data. "The findings reflected consistent patterns across the system, not isolated incidents."

The audit credited staff commitment while noting workload and retention pressures and specific service-delivery problems that arise from irregular schedules and curriculum variation. Recommendations presented by Lana Talberg (speaker 4), the district’s new director of student services, included clarifying roles (paraprofessional vs. special-education teacher vs. general-education teacher), dedicating time for paraprofessional and case-manager collaboration, and creating explicit onboarding materials such as role guides and behavior-management handbooks.

"We recommended adding 30 minutes a week for paraprofessionals and case managers to collaborate, a back-to-school day for paras to review IEPs, and stronger, role-specific professional learning," Talberg said. She also urged biannual reviews of schedules and caseloads to guide staffing decisions, and closer alignment of curricula and materials so students experience continuity across buildings.

Presenters said the district has already taken steps in response to the audit: grouping students with similar needs to use space and paraprofessionals more efficiently, protecting duty-free prep and lunch time where possible, uploading IEPs into EduCLIMBER for broader access, and beginning a review of evidence-based curricula for reading and math. Tecker noted Round River provides new-teacher training and summer professional development for member districts.

The district also highlighted workforce-development efforts: two paraprofessionals are in an apprenticeship pathway toward special-education licensure with mentor teachers, a move administrators called important for filling high-need areas such as autism spectrum disorder and emotionally-behavioral disorders.

Directors addressed practical implementation issues in response to board questions. On transportation, Talberg described disability-specific trainings for drivers and the use of social stories and visual supports for students who ride vans or buses. On data systems, presenters said the district hopes to integrate IEPs and behavior/health plans into Skyward once the system rollout allows, while IEP documents already uploaded to EduCLIMBER increase access for staff.

Talberg provided a district progress update showing special-education enrollment rising from about 640 in 2022 to approximately 703 currently, and reported year-over-year graduation-rate improvements for students with IEPs: roughly 60% in 2022, 63% in 2023 and 87% in 2024. "That's an amazing statistic," she said, while noting the district still faces staff shortages in areas such as speech-language services.

Board members thanked presenters and asked follow-up questions about how recommendations would be staged. Administrators said many items are ongoing and that implementing all recommendations will require time and monitoring. The presentation closed with the district committing to continued updates and reevaluation as steps are rolled out.

The board did not take a related formal action at the meeting; administrators said some items will appear in future packets as proposals or action requests.