Chief Human Resources Officer Christina Courson provided the board of trustees with updates on district staff's efforts during the Dec. 16 board meeting.
Looking back
HCISD special education teachers, paraprofessionals and parents first shared concerns about its Foundational Learning classes at a September board meeting, citing large class sizes, safety issues and potential Individualized Education Program plan violations.
Several teachers spoke about their struggle to be in compliance with IEP plans—or meeting the required student inclusion minutes—due to staff shortages, imbalanced teacher-to-student ratios, small classroom spaces, lack of available substitute teachers and feeling burnt out.
The board later approved increasing special education teacher stipends and special education paraprofessional and substitute teacher rates during an Oct. 28 meeting in order to address some of these issues.
Additionally, special education classroom teachers will receive a $1,500 retention incentive in late January for the 2024-25 school year.
What's being done
Courson reported 15 special education teacher vacancies during the October board meeting. Now, there are nine:
- Seven inclusion/resource teacher vacancies, down from nine
- One Foundational Learning vacancy that is about to be filled, down from four
- One early childhood special education teacher vacancy
Additionally, 75 people attended a district job fair Dec. 3, four of which were special education teacher candidates, she said.
An online thought exchange survey for special education teachers was also launched in early December to garner feedback on what support can be provided beyond compensation.
Looking ahead
The next special education update will be presented to the board in February.
