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Parents, nurses and specialists urge Riverside Unified to reduce class sizes and boost special-education staffing
Summary
At a Riverside Unified study session, parents, a district nurse and speech-pathology staff urged the board to prioritize smaller class sizes, more nurses and structural supports (weighted SLP caseloads and caps on assessments) as staff outlined IDEA requirements and district special-education data.
Public commenters and district staff pressed Riverside Unified's board on Tuesday to treat staffing and health supports as central priorities in the district's five-year strategic plan.
At the start of the meeting, several parents and staff used the public-comment period to describe classroom pressures and health staffing gaps. "If you're adding 30 [students] without a teacher, it's just gonna create a domino effect," said Erica Fodder, who urged that principals retain local discretion on transfer decisions to prevent class-size "combo" placements. Renee Kuzicki, a RUSD middle-school teacher and parent, said smaller class sizes and more district nurses would help students with IEPs, trauma histories and language needs, and warned that nurse retirements could worsen already-high nurse-to-student ratios.
Stephanie McMasters, a district nurse for 14 years, told the board that guidance from the California Department of…
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