Tuscaloosa City Schools board approves virtual‑program roles and three‑year special‑education pay supplement

The Tuscaloosa City Schools board on April 7 approved job descriptions for a virtual‑program specialist and three virtual monitors and voted to adopt a three‑year compensation supplement aimed at recruiting and retaining special‑education staff.

The board also received a first reading of the 2026–27 parent–student code of conduct, which the presenting administrator said includes 14 edits ranging from technical corrections to new language on student privacy and device policies.

Dr. Fulton, who presented the student‑code changes, said the first reading includes six minor edits and several substantive updates: "We added the language about the children's center to include how they're enrolled and accepted," she said, and the code now restricts students and staff from inputting identifiable information into systems that deal with artificial intelligence.

Board members then considered job descriptions to staff the district's new virtual program. Dr. Fulton recommended a 245‑day virtual‑program specialist to oversee the districtwide effort and three classified monitors (one assigned to each high school) to support students in the program. She described the program as embedded within the district's existing high schools rather than a standalone campus and said students in the virtual program would retain extracurricular privileges.

Dr. Fulton said each high school will have a cap of 40 seats (120 total) and reported current enrollment numbers "28 at Bryant, 25 at Central High School, and 25 at Northridge." On funding, she said the district identified sources so the new positions would not pull funds from traditional high‑school budgets: "Funding through for the virtual monitors are through OCE," she said; a separate presenter added that the specialist position will be primarily state funded. (The transcript uses the acronym "OCE" without expansion.)

The board recorded a motion and approved the job descriptions and positions for the 2026–27 school year.

On compensation, a staff presentation recommended a three‑year supplement to reduce vacancies in special‑education classrooms and improve retention. The proposal would provide $5,000 stipends for special‑education teachers and $1,000 stipends for paraeducators, with additional supplements for certain self‑contained positions. "The goal here is to have 0 vacancies in our special education classrooms," the presenter said. The board voted to approve the compensation component and directed staff to begin communications to internal staff and external candidates.

Separately, Dr. Cameron presented routine superintendent recommendations on personnel, including resignations, reassignments and supplemental appointments; the board approved those recommendations. The meeting concluded with a reminder about a tentative April 14 work session and a brief post‑meeting training session for board members.

The board did not receive any public comments on non‑agenda items during the meeting.