Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Special Education topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Rockingham County special education leaders lay out three‑year staffing roadmap as student identifications rise
Summary
Special education leaders told the Rockingham County School Board that 11% of students are identified with disabilities and asked for a phased, three‑year plan to add instructional coaches, speech‑language staff, school psychologists and other supports to meet rising needs.
Chris Bryant, director of special education for Rockingham County Public Schools, told the school board on March 10 that special education identification and service needs have risen steadily and that the division is proposing a three‑year staffing and program roadmap to respond.
"We're 11 percent, by the way, of students with disabilities in our school division," Bryant said, summarizing December 1 counts and explaining that the division is seeing particular growth in several categories. He gave the board specific year‑over‑year increases: a 15% increase in elementary students identified as students with disabilities, a 13% rise in speech‑language impairment identifications, an 8% increase in other health impairment designations, a 16% increase in autism, and a 46% increase in identified vision impairment.
Bryant and his team outlined a multi‑year staffing request that would add district‑level and school‑based positions. The proposal calls for new general and adapted instructional coaches at elementary and secondary levels, a speech‑language lead teacher and additional speech‑language pathologists, an autism coach, a preschool coordinator to oversee early childhood special education, and added school psychologists distributed into school buildings rather than centralized in the central office. The presenters emphasized that many requested positions would be school‑based "so that they're immediate support, as it's needed," Bryant said.
Board members pressed the team on recruiting and pay for specialized staff. "You mentioned the need for psychologists. Can we get them? Are they available? And are we competitive with them?" a board member asked. Bryant said vacancies and shortfalls are widespread across Virginia and the country and described an interim strategy: the division has recruited a school psychologist intern from James Madison University who can carry a caseload next year but said the division needs a seventh full‑time school psychologist and would benefit from a compensation study to remain competitive.
Presenters described tradeoffs between contracting outside evaluators and hiring staff. A team member noted that contracted providers may not be "invested" in the school community and might not attend team meetings or deliver on all parts of the testing‑and‑eligibility process, whereas in‑house psychologists can follow through on testing, meetings and timelines.
The presentation also highlighted programmatic priorities including increased 4‑year‑old inclusion in preschool classrooms, expanded K‑12 adapted curriculum and differential pay for specialized roles, and a plan to expand behavioral supports and board‑certified behavior analysts. The leadership team said they would continue refining the roadmap and may adjust staffing requests as needs evolve.
Superintendent Dr. Shiflett told the board that many of the requested positions are being considered in the division's budget planning. "A number of these items, if not all of the items you've requested, are in our budget," Shiflett said, noting the challenge of balancing priorities but calling special education a budget priority.
The board did not take a formal vote on the staffing roadmap at the March 10 meeting; the presentation concluded with a series of follow‑up questions for staff regarding compensation comparisons and implementation timing.
