Teacher urges board to slow proposed K–5 model for intensive special-education classrooms

Taylor Bryant, a classroom teacher speaking on behalf of the Mary Beck Intense Interventions team, urged the Elkhart Community Schools board during public comment to reconsider a proposal to reconfigure separate-setting special-education classrooms into a K–5 model.

"I wanted to express my concerns regarding the proposed change to the current structure of our K 235 separate setting classrooms into the K 5 model," Bryant said, asking that "before any district-wide changes to placement structures are implemented, there is intentional collaboration with special education staff and the careful review of how such changes will impact students with the most intensive needs."

Bryant told the board that combining kindergarten and fifth-grade students would create a wide developmental and behavioral range in a single classroom, posing challenges for safety, social dynamics and appropriateness of instruction. She also raised academic concerns about aligning instruction across vastly different grade-level standards and noted staffing shortages that could limit meaningful inclusion supports.

Bryant requested that teams who know the students best be included in decisions that affect placement, saying: "Our students deserve to be seen, heard, and understood as individuals first." The remarks were part of the public-comment section; no formal board action on placement models was recorded at the meeting.

Next steps: The comment was entered into the public record during the April 21 meeting; the board did not announce a vote or timetable on changing placement structures during the session.