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Teachers warn Fredonia district that new schedule and related-services staffing risk burnout and unmet IEP mandates
Summary
Multiple teachers and related-services staff used the July 1 meeting’s public-comment period to say a denser student schedule and a 10‑session-per-day related‑services model have created burnout and left many students at risk of not receiving mandated speech, occupational or physical therapy; they urged new hires.
Several district employees told the Fredonia Central School District board during public comment July 1 that recent scheduling changes and a long-standing related‑services staffing model are harming students and staff.
Lori Briefu, an elementary physical-education teacher, said a schedule presented to staff on June 1 “sent shock waves through the elementary school,” arguing the tighter schedule would reduce outdoor time, compress transitions, eliminate planned collaboration time and intensify workload to an unsustainable degree. “This schedule takes away my ability to see [issues] through from start to finish,” she said, adding that the change removes opportunities for teachers to follow up with vulnerable students and will increase burnout.
Speaking for the teachers association, Michelle Go said the district has added eight special‑education teaching positions since 2021 but has increased related‑services staff far less. She told trustees the district has relied on a 10‑session, 30‑minute model for related-services that produces excessive stress and that, to meet students’ IEP‑mandated minutes, the district needs “one new full‑time speech position in addition to the currently posted one, one new OT position, and one part‑time PT position.”
An occupational therapist with 17 years in the district, Jen Christie, gave concrete student examples she said illustrate the value of consistent therapy and the damage that understaffing can cause. Christie and other speakers said therapists have been operating at an unsustainably high session count, have been unable to complete documentation and Medicaid billing without indirect time, and that the scheduling model prevented them from serving many grade‑level students.
Board members acknowledged the comments and said the district will read submitted materials. The transcript records that the speakers provided charts and statements to the board. The district approved contracts for certain summer therapy services earlier in the meeting, but callers at the microphone said those measures do not fully address year‑round caseload and mandated‑service gaps.
The board did not make staffing commitments on the record during the July 1 meeting; speakers urged prompt administrative action before the start of the school year.
