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Teacher urges board to restore career specialist role, says staff are overloaded
Summary
Teacher Juliet Safier told the board the duties of a former career specialist were reallocated to multiple staff and are unsustainable; she asked the board to consider funding a certified position in the budget.
At the public-comment portion of the Vernonia SD 47J board meeting, teacher Juliet Safier described in detail the extra duties teachers and counselors absorbed after the district eliminated a career specialist position. She said parts of that role – monitoring online ISP students, managing digital portfolios, overseeing senior projects and scholarship coordination – have fallen to teachers and counselors, creating heavy workloads and emotional tolls.
"We need a person. We need a real person, and I'm requesting that it be certified," Safier said (S6), urging the board to consider restoring the role in the budget. She outlined concrete impacts, including canceled field trips and staff burnout, and requested that the board weigh the operational cost against the student supports the position provided.
Board members and parents responded with sympathy and asked administrators to follow up; one parent said they expected the position would be filled even if not with a certified teacher. The board directed the superintendent and administration to include staffing needs and potential options in upcoming budget discussions.
