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Resident urges more support to retain special-education teachers; board says district offers incentives
Summary
Crystal Engel told the North Harrison board she has seen reports the district is losing several special-education teachers; staff described incentives and said they will follow up, and the board acknowledged they do not currently conduct exit interviews.
During the public-comment portion of the June 13 meeting, Crystal Engel told the board she had seen social-media posts indicating the district is "losing multiple sped teachers going into the next school year" and asked what the district would do to retain current special-education staff and recruit new talent.
Engel said she was concerned about workplace support rather than money: "people do not leave bad jobs. They leave bad management," she said. A district staff member responded that "being a special education teacher ... takes a special person," described recent steps the district has taken to support teachers — including a master's incentive and adjustments to the salary scale to be more competitive — and invited Engel to meet separately to discuss workplace supports.
When Engel asked whether the district does exit interviews to determine why staff leave, a staff member said "We do not currently do exit interviews." The staff member agreed to consider exit interviews as a possible step to better understand departures.
The board did not move to a policy action during the meeting but thanked Engel for raising the concern and said staff would follow up. No formal commitments or new programs were adopted on the record at the meeting.
