2025-10-09 Board of Education’s Teaching, Learning, and Enrollment Committee

001Hello everyone. This public meeting of the board of education's teaching, learning, and enrollment committee for October 9th, 2025 is called to order. Good afternoon and welcome. Thank you all for being here. Today's agenda is an overview of special education services here at PPS. Like many, this is a topic that is near and dear to me. So, we'll begin with introductions. I am Michelle Chase Miller. I'm the director for zone 4 and I chair this committee. Um, do you want to go around and introduce yourselves? >> Virginia Leaffort. I'm the director um out of zone 5, northeast Portland. >> I'm Christy Split. I represent zone one, which is southwest Portland. Um Eddie Wong, board chair, ex official of this committee. Zones, we're doing zones, huh? Zone 7. >> Hi, I'm Christina Howard. I'm the senior chief

002of academics. I'm the staff liaison to the committee. Right. I'm sorry. I'm Jay Buuno. I'm the chief of student services. Sorry. Good evening. I am Kelly Charles. I am senior director of special education. Thanks everybody. It's good to see everyone here. Uh next we have public comment. Cara, do we have anyone signed up to speak? >> We do. Um, I'm going to call all four of the commenters up and then they can provide their comment. Um, Joselyn Haley Cambier, Tree Toe, Sarah Schultz, and Suzanne Carson. Hi folks, thanks for being here. Uh, please make sure when you begin your comments that you clearly state your name and spell your last name. You will have two minutes to speak. We ask that once you hear the sound of the alarm go off, please wrap up your

003comments. Um, no. The teacher is overwhelmed to the point of tears and students are showing signs of distress, including physical illness. VDLI is a critical educational service that ensures access and equity for Vietnamese speaking students, many of whom begin school with limited English proficiency. Vietnamese is the third most commonly spoken language in Oregon and the second most common among residents with limited English proficiency. PPS's racial equity and social justice policy and multilingual education policy explicitly require the district to allocate resources and staffing to meet the needs of linguistically diverse students. Importantly, the VDLI program is not only for Vietnamese speaking students. It also serves English-speaking students who wish to become bilingual, biiterate, and bicultural. Undermining VDLI harms both groups of students and contradicts PPS's stated goals of equitable access to multilingual education. We are deeply

004concerned by recent district actions that have closed enrollment for VDLI's first grade class. Despite the district's long-standing commitment to maintaining 52 VDLI spots per grade level, this artificial cap appears designed to avoid hiring additional staff and to remain just under the Portland Association of Teachers contractual threshold for split classes rather than responding to program needs. Such actions perpetuate inequity. The district's failure to assign an additional full-time teacher has direct implications for PPS's ability to meet its own school continuous improvement plan goals. Vietnamese speaking students and their families are being systematically marginalized by staffing and policy decisions that would not be tolerated in other programs or schools. >> Thank you. >> Hello, my name is Tito. I'm a also a VDLI u parents of um one a first grader and sixth grader. Uh my comments is

005going to be in Vietnamese. Fore city parks. Forecipch. Thank you. >> Hi, my name is Susan Carson. C A R S O N. And my son Anthony is a uh junior at McDaniel High School in the one of the three intensive skills classrooms >> in the >> Yeah. Well, he doesn't like when we talk about school when we're not there. Um but anyway, so first of all, I just wanted to thank you for focusing on special education in this committee meeting, the first one of the year, and to dedicate the entire committee meeting to the issue. That sends a really a message that we um families and I think staff really appreciate. So, thank you. Also want to recognize the positive changes that have not gone unnoticed. Dr. Charles, we're happy you're here. and Dr.

006and Jay, we're happy you're here, too. Um, but I do ha uh have noticed uh positive changes in communication and actually listening and responding to what um families have said. But quickly, I did want to share um Anony's teacher had shared I asked her what is the what what should we focus on? We have two minutes now. I have about one minute. and she shared that um the biggest issue facing intensive skills classes in general is the recruit recruitment, training and retaining of good PAR professionals. I know you know this, but I I want to reiterate it just so you hear it. Um without good paras, she says we can't even beat the meet the basic needs of our classroom such as feeding, toileting, and keeping kids safe. you know, they can't go do anything

007beyond that or and just do the bare minimum. They can't do enrichment activities such as field trips, vocational training without that strong Paris support. Um, they have a frequent issue in Anony's class of being understaffed either because not all the spots have been filled or staff are out and the there's no substitute that came in and then they're just left carrying the load. Um, and the the classroom's over the cap this year, so their staffing ratios are off, but they're just having to deal with it. Nobody's reached out. Nobody even probably knows. Um, they just have to, you know, do it do what they can and figure it out. And so I think we can retain paraprofessionals by training them well and paying them. Um, I understand there's no money there, but I'd like to

008hear tonight and going forward. What ideas do you have? Um, you anything new that you're hoping to try? Anything creative? Um, PAR professionals are just so important and we need good paras. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Do we have Sarah Schultz? And that concludes public comment. Thank you all for taking the time to come and comment. All right. Today's meeting focus is on special education services here at PPS. Dr. Christina Howard. Someday Dr. Christina Howard, senior chief of teaching and learning, will begin tonight's update. >> Thank you for having us tonight. Um, and tonight I'm joined by, um, Dr. Kelly Charles, who is our senior director over special education, and Chief Buuno, who is our chief of student support services. Um, during tonight's presentation, they're going to give an overview of special education program.

009Um they're also going to talk about the supports that are available for students receiving special education services. Um they're going to give a little uh glimpse into special education funding. I know they shared uh I know Chief Buuno shared that a bit last year as well. Um but we also have um new members and new updates to share. And then um uh I appreciate the testimony a few minutes ago around um how they're listening have been listening and how um moving from listening to action um and sharing a bit about what was learned over the last year and how that's being implemented. So I'm going to turn it over to I believe Chief Buuno first. >> Yeah. Um thank you. Feel like I got scooted in. Um so good evening. Um it's it's odd to

010be here and not there. But um Dr. Charles and I appreciate the opportunity to um engage in the conversation um related to special education, our program right now and where we are going. I'll move this over here so it picks me up as I'm looking at you. >> I know this is kind of set up. Are you okay? Like would you happier? >> No, I I'm fine. I just want to make it work for for everyone. move over there. It really mess that would be no worries. Um, so as we move forward, I guess uh Dr. Charles um is recovering her voice. Um and so I'll be doing a lot of the the speaking and and she'll have an opportunity to chime in when we have some questions. So um anyway, just wanted to folks

011to know where we're at with that. But um our so our hope today um as Christina um identified Chief Howard, senior Chief Howard identified um we intend to talk about um where we are with our special education program. Um how we provide services to students, how we're funded, and then and then what we're doing as a result of listening that we've done over the course of the past since last January. So eight uh over six, seven months. So, um to do that, um I want to talk a little bit about what um special education is. Um ju just generally some folks have had an opportunity to have or hear me talk. Uh some folks are well-versed and and I know that this might be a new topic for others. So um in in essence uh

012special education was born um in 1975 um when IDA was passed and millions of uh at the time when millions of children were simply excluded from public schools. Um even those um who did not who did attend public schools or were often segregated and and uh placed into settings outside of the classroom andor had little access to learning. Um the pa the passage of IDA was not just uh the adoption of a law. It was a civil rights milestone. Um IDA guarantees two fundamental rights for students with disabilities. First is a free and appropriate public education and second is services in the least restrictive environment. And I'll talk a little bit about what that means um shortly. The third thing that IDA outlines is procedural safeguards for for students and families as to how special

013education is implemented. So this this this fun this law fundamentally changed the game and mandated um how special educations are service um and services are provided and they it identified that special education isn't a place. Special education is services that we provide and and and how we go about doing it. Um, so every state has laws that mirror IDA and more specifically define process. Um, and and of course that's the case in with Oregon. Um, so in in Portland uh we are committed uh and we're clear about this to um eradicating abbleism in all of its forms. Abbleism is the pervasive belief that students with disabilities are inherently less capable or less valuable than their peers. So we recognize that abbleism shows up in our system currently when students are separated instead of included uh

014when adults lower expectations for students with disabilities and critically when our systems are designed for adult convenience and not student belonging. So, our path forward has to interrupt this and and so I'll talk a little bit about how we're doing that or working to do that. Um, before I do that though, I I I I can't tell a story of special education without talking about kids. Um, and and and these are students, the students I'm going to talk about are students that we serve currently. These are PPS students. These are in PPS classrooms, these pictures. and and yes, we have permissions from other families to share the photos and talk about their their young people. Um, so the first student um is a second grader. Uh well, the time of this photo is a second

015grader, bit older than that. Uh he's a bright, curious, and uh fun-loving young person. And um in addition to that, not only is he eligible for special education, but he also is eligible for TAG services. Um, this young man experiences intense emotions. Um, it can lead to challenging behavior. What I mean by that, I mean this is a student who demonstrates behavior escalations to the point where classrooms at the time uh when he initially started becoming involved with special education were shut down. Uh we had room clears occurred um and it had disrupted the entire environment. At the same time, like I said, he's gifted and talented. so significantly academically capable um but struggles with his with um his emotions and how those are displayed. Um the dedicated educators at his schools worked with him

016every single day, every minute, every hour um to put a plan in place to help him be successful. They worked with his family, they worked with community partners and they collaborated on what a successful plan looks like. And the team um was adamant through this process that even though that this was the reality for the student and in in a typical um IEP determining process, we would identify that this child needed a specialized program that might be delivered somewhere else. But the the team, the family, and and and the educators in the building were adamant this student wasn't going to be served anywhere else except for in his neighborhood. Um and and so they designed a program uh focused on service and instruction to help enable him to be successful. Um the team wrapped around

017him and every other child in the school and the school community to ensure in his success and he continues to receive special education services at that school today as a member of his school community. Um the second young person uh on my right left up there and right down there um is a fourth grader. Um she's visually impaired. Uh in addition to that has other physical and medical issues. Her needs are really complex. Uh she she requires assisted technology to engage with the world around her. In addition to that, adults to help fulfill fulfill her basic uh need requirements. Um she is a member of the fourth grade classroom. She is served in that classroom all day. Um she receives specialized supports uh from special educators at the school. In addition to that, she is

018served by a program that we um supervise in Portland public schools, which is called Columbia Regional Inclusive Services. And what they do is they provide some of the low incidence needs uh related to assist of technology and visual supports. Um but but the service and the in the in the direct um support every single day comes from the special educators at her school. And so, so this young lady is a member of the fourth grade classroom, a member of the community, and has all of her needs met as in an inclusive setting. And so I tell you these stories, and there are many, many more I could have picked that are occurring across our system right now. um to help understand what first of all what special education does, but then in addition to that,

019where we're going and and what we want to have happen across this system to serve students that receive special education services. So, the students and staff um where work hard to ensure this happens. Both students and staff work very hard to ensure this happens. and and where this isn't occurring right now. This is what we're this is where we're going. So, um the work of special education is very and deeply personal and intentional. Um and our and our staff across the system work very hard to help support the needs of students. So, what is special education? I talked about where it came from. What is it? Um, special education itself is it's specially designed instruction to meet the unique needs of a child with a disability. The instruction is designed to enable access to the

020core curriculum. Um, these are these this is um what special education is defined in Oregon state law and in IDA as. Um the the key legal requirement is the concept of least restrictive environment which is what I mentioned before was the foundation or was adopted in in in IDEIDA. And what least restrictive environment means is special classes or separate schooling must occur only if the nature and severity of the disability is such that student cannot be educated in regular classes even with supplementary aids and services. Every child must be educated in the school he or she would attend if they would not have a disability to the maximum extent appropriate. So these are I I just specifically quoted Oregon state law related to what um least restrictive environment is for special education. So a little

021bit about inclusion. You'll you'll hear me talk a lot about inclusion. You'll hear special educators, you'll hear families, you hear community members talk about inclusion and inclusive practices. So, as I just identified, inclusion is it's the it's foundational or fundamentally a component of IDEIDA. And and so what that means though is that special education isn't the driver of inclusion. Inclusion is a general education initiative. While the shift to supporting um and and moving into our concept of this concept of neighborhood schools uh directly impact students with disabilities, this is fundamentally an effort for all students. So not just students with disabilities. So when we intentionally meet the instructional needs of our students furthest from educational justice within the general education classroom or the grade level classroom, the entire system moves forward and we build a

022stronger, more capable community and we improve the quality of instruction for every single student. It's about making our general education spaces accessible to students with disabilities and to provide instruction at um by our highly skilled general education teachers in addition to the services and supports that our special educators provide. So what I just identified um related to inclusive practices is supported by over 30 years of research in special education. It is it is so established that this is the most effective way to support students and support their needs in following um every day but then in addition to that following high school and on into adulthood. Um that um you know you don't say this but it's like it's a law. It's it's it's been established through research so much that um it it's just

023known to um meet the needs of all students, increase academic achievement, and address sense of belonging. So, the neighborhood schools model um was born out of this focus. Um and currently, uh we serve 17% of our students in special education. Um, additionally, currently, disproportionately, students served in specialized placements are represent students of color. In addition to that, um the students that we support uh in special education, even though a majority of them or 80% of them spend 80% of their day in a general education classroom, we aren't um address we aren't meeting or performing at a level where we want to academic performance. um even though we in Portland lead the state like so our students with disabilities achieve at higher rates than students um across the rest of the state on average you know

024uh but we're still not at a point where we um need to be and so there's a significant achievement gap and opportunity gap. So, so these these these reasons in addition to the fact that in 2022 2023 um we uh did listening sessions with our families um that received services uh in a focus classroom and one that we learned many things and and we're we're trying to in in implementing systems and structures to support how to respond to that. But one of the primary messages that was heard across the system is why are we the only students that are not allowed to attend our community school? And so the neighborhood school process um was then born from this focus on inclusion, students accessing their neighborhood school, students accessing general education environments, and then our families

025genuinely experiencing segregation that other students don't. Um so our the feedback and our focus is about shifting mindsets. It's about every student especially those with student those students that experience a disability having a sense of belonging within their neighborhood school. And so we have key goals which is to provide a continuum of supports. And so continuum of special education services, continuum of instruction directly in a child's neighborhood school. Um we want to foster and create a greater sense of belonging and a stronger community from that to school as a whole and advance um collaborative instruction and shared responsibility. So special education is not the deliverer of all of the instruction for students with disabilities. They are first and foremost general education students and need to have access and be provided and participate in general education

026instruction. And then we are focused on interrupting the system of segregation and ultimately to focus on this concept of rightful presence. And what rightful presence means is it's it's separate than inclusion. Inclusion has been set up is that something that somebody has to earn. Um rightful presence is is you belong here. everyone belongs. So, as we move through that and and and that being the foundation for neighborhood schools, there's um some myths that I want to talk about related to um special education, inclusive education, and and neighborhood schools. Um and and these myths aren't it's not Jay up here saying, "Hey, these are myths." These are as a result of research of these agencies and and many many more. um one being US Department of Education, the other the Herring Center at the University of

027Washington, and then some of these uh um organizations, TASH and Inclusive Schools. Um and then this is also published on the Washington State Department of Education's website. Um and so I just want to emphasize that the things I'm about to say are not, and I just repeat it because it's important, they're not me. This is this is as a result of research from many agencies and and specifically from these folks. So um the first is inclusion means all services are delivered in the general education classroom regardless of need and and no that is that is not what we um talk about. Um it it we we provide um services and supports on a continuum. What that means is is we will have a designated classroom space and have currently in our neighborhood schools that provide

028flexible supports and flexible learning needs and then add and then students are also included. So services are pushed in and then sometimes students get pulled out. And so um the the focus though or the myth though is that inclusion means allin no matter what and the reality is is that is contrary to a student that's contrary to IDA that's contrary to a student's needs and we provide the continuum of supports. Um second myth students with behavioral challenges must remain in the general education classroom even with significant disruption. So I told you a story um of a child who had significant or very strong emotions, very strong emotional response and that team included that child, that young person as much as they were able to in addition to providing services and supports outside of the classroom.

029They they identified a plan. they implemented that plan and within weeks had the the young person functioning in the in the um general education classroom. So the response is not that it's all or nothing of anything. It it's that we focus on what services are needed, what skills are need to be taught, and how to provide access to the instruction. And some students that is something that we experience or work on for a long time and for some students like I described you know it was six months before we were able to have the student um representing the skills they needed within the classroom. um inclusion. Another thing that gets brought up is that we're doing co-eing. Um and co-eing is a strategy. And what that means as a special education teacher and a general

030education teacher, deliver instruction to the to the classroom at the same time. Um but that's not the only way that we're approaching it. So yes, that is included and it's not the only way. Um inclusion in myth four is inclusion is not for students with severe disabilities. And research actually shows that students with significant or that are significantly impacted by their disability actually show the most benefits from inclusive practices. In addition to that, we have to ident we have to um provide needs uh outside of the classroom for students. Also, um the the the theme though is is that it's not all or nothing. Um, there's another myth that students are provided more direct or more intensive supports when they're removed from the classroom. That isn't accurate either. Research has identified that students can be

031fully integrated into a general education classroom and benefit and make the same progress that if they were pulled out. And the last one I think is the most important because it's something I hear and and and read about as I'm looking at comments that the inclusive practices or inclusion is more expensive than segregating students into common classrooms. And the reality is is that's there is no study, there is no budget analysis that's identified that um segregation or pulling students out is more expensive than inclusive practices. um the the thing that determines cost for special education is the needs of the student um and those are provided um in in whatever setting it is. So um so I wanted to share a little bit about where we are uh as we move forward with this um

032in the number of students that we serve in special education. So currently our our October 1st count was 7614 kids um which we continue to grow um in in supporting uh the in the number of students we support. Um I an October 1 count is never representative of what your overall count will be and reason for that is is we have students coming into the system young students um and sometimes older students who we are identifying um because they've not been pre previously identified. So, um, in the winter time, uh, which is where the rest of the numbers came from, we will have a little more accurate count, but we'll continue to grow on until the springtime. Um, and and and so what you can see is the needs of students in Portland have continued

033to grow prior to since prior to the pandemic and and and now. I don't have the district enrollment as of yet, the official district count to give you a percentage, but looking at the numbers, you know, we're we continue to be in and around 17% of students that we um serve in in this system in special education. Um, another thing I've shared in the past is um needs that we support. Uh we uh this this year we've seen a significant growth. This was something I commented on and and and gave to the board when when we met in the springtime. Um the the needs of students are increasing specifically the needs that are identified on the autism spectrum. Uh we had a pretty large growth actually from uh last year to this year of kids

034coming into the system. And this is primarily our early childhood students um that are um showing the increase in number. But in addition to that, it's um just general need uh across the system and and and students coming into Portland. The other data there is where we are across the board uh for special education in the representation of students of color in special education. And then the what column on the right is the what that percentage is or what that representation is um in the district. Um you typically would see par. So if you know a category is 5.5% represent representation across the district then you're going to see something in and around that for in special education also. Um when it's not that way that or when it's higher in special education or even

035lower that's higher is considered disproportionate. um lower is cons. That's where we start to ensure that our child find efforts are um doing what they need to do. >> Can you say that one more time just so I'm tracking? >> Start over describing. >> Yeah, because looking at I think probably because we were like looking at that and trying to listen to at the same time. >> So what we um so this is the representation of students of color of different demographic groups. the demographic groups are broken out by the federal codes um because that's what we have to report to to the state and the feds for special education. But um the column on the left is what the representation in special education. So that's one of you know the but it's it's a

036percentage so of the 7600 students. The column on the right is what the overall enrollment across the district is. So the representation of the um the the demographic groups across the system. And so what we look for is whether the numbers have par. So it's in and around the same level of representation in special education as in the whole district. Um because of course each one of the students that um are his uh Latinx Latino um also represent part of the 5.5 number. Uh so we want to make sure there's parity in that where there's not parity where the number in special education is higher like in that case then we have a disproportionate representation of Latinx students in special education in our system. So now that's a number. It tells us what it is.

037I'm not saying that that means that the teams have misidentified the children. they are very much or very well experienced disability and we need to provide special education services. That's just where we're at and we have to make sure or identify that um we are appropriately identifying them for special education. >> Yeah, I understood it. I understood hearing it again was helpful. While we're talking about this for a second anyway, not to interrupt with questions, but just to clarify on this chart, >> do you have any thoughts about why our Latino students seem to be >> particularly um away from that equilibrium? And that's like four-fold. >> Yeah. Um so, a couple things because the number is what it is, we have paid a lot of attention to it. >> Uh to the point where

038we even review evaluations and EV valuation processes to make sure that we have um I identified appropriately. So what I can say is is through through through um monitoring uh we know that every child that's been identified should be identified or we believe that they should be identified. Um, and so, um, it I don't have a it's just the way it is. >> And we don't do we know if that trend holds up in like other districts. >> It is districts in the um, so every district experiences disproportionality in some way. Um, I think one the Latinx group in our system is larger than some of the other groups. Um, and I would say that that might not be uncommon for a school district to have that. At the same time, we want to be

039very we want to make sure that the children we are serving are should be identified um and most importantly u meet the kids needs. So >> great. Thank you for sharing. you really got us at this table. Yeah. The um >> the disparity in percentage, you know, for the Hispanic population, you know, because many of them are Spanish speaking, right? >> Um is that do I don't even know if you know this, but like in the DLI programs is are is the disparity similar or different? I I don't have the information right now or off the top of my head broken out by school to see if it looks different in in in a DI school versus a non DLI school. Um I so so I I can get that information um for you. I

040I do know that we invest um and support our special educators with um supports for evaluating students whose primary language is Spanish >> or whose first language is Spanish. >> Um and so they go through a pretty extensive process of ruling out that language isn't the cause before um they're evaluated. At the same time, I also know that students um who are um fluent or experience their their first language um to to a proficient range are success more significantly more successful um in in performing in an English setting. Um, so that's a really long answer to I don't have that specific information and we work hard to uh help support our staff members uh with uh training and resource um to ensure that language isn't the factor when they're identified. Right. One of the reasons

041I asked is because one of the reasons the DLI programs was founded is because um you know the studies the evidence shows that when kids can develop in their native languages for longer in their school period they have less likely chances of negative effects or or more more higher rates of success. I'm just kind of curious because with the disparity, you know, yeah, it would be it would be an interesting comparison to see if, you know, the language factor is a factor whether it's on the testing side or the development side, you know, and so it anyways. Yeah. Or even even perhaps if it is a positive note, more reasons to expand, look into DLI um and expand it. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Um I just have a a curiosity. if you so I I

042see that uh for the most part kids of color are uh over represented. Do you think that there's potentially a scenario where white and Asian kids are under uh under identified? >> Do I Yes, I think that well what we would like to see is our numbers have more par. And so it is um definitely a question that we have um that we when we're looking at um students um and how we're going about identifying students. So, so it's it's there's so many variables that go into this and yes, that does make us um question whether or not um we have found or it's called child find in special education where we've identified any every potential student that could potentially be experiencing a disability. Um, so could add to that really quick because it's a

043really great question because one of the things about a lot of Asian cultures, not all but a lot and I think it's getting better with the younger generations, but a lot of Asian cultures really like high, you know, mental uh disabilities and issues are something to be hidden, >> right? And so sometimes parents don't advocate >> these things. So that that's something Yeah, thanks for bringing that up. and and every one of our schools uh has a a student intervention team um as part of their MTSS system in structure and part of that team's responsibility that's not the team that goes through and identifies students as eligible for special education but it is the team that that um reviews how students are progressing in their learning um in in the school and and then provides

044intervention. So when a student demonstrates a significant behavioral need like the child I described beforehand of course that was the student intervention team that started that process before special education became involved. Um same is true for academic supports. Uh that team tracks or is is focused on ensuring that we're meeting the needs of of of the students in the school. And so um through a variety of uh assessments, teacher input um and just testing uh like the math assessment that we we do that team tracks progress of kids and then the interventionists or um or other folks provide support and then if if need be that students get referred for special education evaluation if if they're not responding to to consider um if that is a disability and if it is it doesn't change the

045need to continue to provide general education instruction that's accessible with high quality materials and then perhaps remedial supports but then special education on top of that. So in in our system, so I've talked a lot about in inclusive practices. I talked about what neighborhood schools are and what the purpose of that is. Um we also meet the academic and behavioral needs of students in a in a variety of ways. Um in our system, uh first what I will say is is a learning what we call learning center. Some of these names are um have been that for a long time. But the f the the focus of the learning center is it's not a place. It's it's it's it's teacher actually and and their job uh and they work very hard diligently to doing this

046job is to provide the supplemental instruction to students um as they are also participating in the core instruction. In addition to that, we do have three focused, what we call focused or specialized classrooms. Um, and these are regionally located um around our system at elementary. Um, they're not at every school middle. They're not at every middle. I apologize. I don't know if that sentence made sense. They're not at every elementary school. They're not at every middle school. Most high schools have them. Um, the focus is but they're called a social emotional skills classroom. And the focus of that space is to address um social emotional behavioral needs. Um we have community or communication behavior instruction. This is primarily an elementary program and it it supports students with social communication needs. Students um I don't want

047to say students on the autism spectrum. Of course, most a lot of the students are included in in that support and students on the spectrum may be served in other places also, but the focus is on communication. It's on addressing behavior as a result of communication and and what we call social communication. and then intensive skills instruction which is um students who needs are more significant and and oftent times these students will participate in an alternative curriculum to the core curriculum in addition to some access to the core curriculum. So we do have specialized programming also. So uh for students who students with disabilities who receive special education services can receive services up until they turn 22 basically. um up through their 21st year. Um and those students needs are u met um in our

048community transition program. Uh in addition to that, early childhood special education is a program that occurs across Portland public schools. Portland public does not oversee it or provide it. It's it's part of a um a regional program that is um supervised uh through uh actually David Douglas School District, but that's that's not what it's called. Um but they do operate in in an art school MECP. >> Thank you. I literally lost it for a second. Uh and then um in Portland, we we have what we identify as a special school which is a therapeutic behavioral focus school. It's called Pioneer School. various pioneer school. Just geographically, I'm just curious. >> Um, division and it's by Kellogg, like a block up from Kellogg. >> Central. >> Yeah. >> Um, maybe three blocks. Uh but um then

049we also and I talked about this um in reference to the young lady that I described that we provide special education services for um we support and these staff are PPS staff uh the Columbia regional inclusive services program and that's that program is focused on low incidence disability so blind visually impaired deaf deaf and heart of hearing um traumatic brain injury um and then autism also but these staff actually work everywhere from Hood River uh to de way down way way down south and Multma County. So uh but these are PPS staff. There's PPS staff in Hood River supporting students needs >> um through the Columbia Regional Inclusive Services and we also support the Providence program. So this is a specific program for students that have significant health needs to where they're served at the

050hospital and we have a PPS special educator going there. Those students are also served at Grant and Mount Taber um as they transition out uh but those kids come from all over the state. And then of course we also support in our system our dart programs or our day and residential treatment programs and and we do serve students and place students in in dart programs and the ones the the programs that we support in our system that PPS special education provides special education supports for and then in special education we have special education teachers. I've talked a bit about what they do talked a lot about what they do. In addition to that, we have speech language pathologists who provide communication services and supports. We have school psychologists who provide mental health supports, behavioral supports.

051They lead um a lot of work for the team around intervention. In addition to that, they conduct evaluations uh or facilitate the evaluation process that some of these other specialists participate in. But this in the school psych is a major player, major leader in that. We have occupational physical therapists. Uh we have qualified mental health providers. We have adaptive PE specialists. Uh we provide a a continuum of medical services and supports. Uh those are frequently by nurses uh and or um like LPNs. Um and then of course we have a a large number of amazing professional educators who support across every one of these settings our students. So um transition special education is funded uh >> well no uh and I'll show you how much not enough here in a second. Um >> that's why

052>> so uh in Oregon um of course education is come or education is funded through the state school fund. State school fund is generated through a variety of factors. One of the factors is what's called a average daily membership. Um in addition to that and I I talked a bit about that a few months ago when I joined our CFO at the DS but a student with a disability has an additional weight. So it's it's ADMW and that weight is equivalent to it's like one more. So each student with disability generates two fundings, two ADMs um up to 11%. So so we're currently at 18 almost 18% somewhere between 17 18%. And so we only receive that weighted funding for uh 11% of the students. Um in addition to that um there's federal funding. Uh

053so IDA requires that the federal government um provides funding for support of special education. That funding is substantially less than what IDA promised um has been since its inception. Um and uh but but we do receive um idea funding also. And then of course um the student investment account supports significantly um special education in addition to other student services. Um the one thing I haven't talked about yet, it's called the high-cost disability fund. Um and so this is an allocation. Every state has it for students who are have significant expense. So students in Oregon, it's any student whose program costs over $30,000 a year. Um and the limit on that pro that budget is $55 million. Um just for perspective, um last year we submitted for $60 million in expenses um to that fund. So

054if Portland was the only district funded through the high-cost disability fund, we would have eliminated it. Um anyway, uh so this is what I just said in revenue. Uh now I don't have this school year's yet. Um but our idea funds are about 8.9 um million. Um it's a combination of a variety of things including student count um poverty level um and it those are the primary things u that that the money gets determined as allocated. In addition to that it's the general amount across the system. So the state gets a total and then it divides it up across districts. And so that's why it's not a consistent number. It's because it takes the total number of students in the dis in the state that are being served. Um their their socioeconomics impacts it and

055then they divide that up across the district. Um >> yep question. So the last legislative session remember was HB244 something um high disabil fund I think that didn't make it out committee right is that happened to it >> didn't I I apologize I don't exactly know where in the process it it it didn't m get beyond but it didn't make it to a vote >> and and that bill was to raise the amount for the high disability >> correct >> right >> there was also a bill for the 11% cap and that bill I think did make it out of committ but didn't make it out of resid. Yeah, >> because of the budget concerns. I think that's I think that's right. >> And just so people have kind of a perspective about that, the

056cap on 11% and we have 17.2 last year. That's equivalent of 2,300 students not getting funded. >> Yeah. >> And $18 million looks like roughly. So, um, >> so we, um, >> can you can we we're doing a little math over here. >> Sorry, I need to jump in. So, so with the >> I'm looking at your bottom line here. Um, this is what it would look like without the cap. >> What the 65 would look like without the cap. >> Correct. >> Got it. Okay. So, I was just to answer >> wondering how that question. Make sure I understood it. >> No, I see what you're putting down. >> Yeah, I appreciate that. >> It's seared into my brain. >> So, um so that was our federal allocation 8.9 million last year. The ADMW

057that we received added up to 65 million and then um 3.2 million of our student SIA dollars supported special education. um the high-cost disability reimbursement is always a year behind. So, so I I I do not know what we have received yet as a result. And there's a squaring up process that has to occur, but it will be in and around and probably less because every year need increase, costs increase. And as you can see, um every year um the amount we have received decreases even though the number of kids we have submitted it has increased. So, um, but it's the it's the it's the current state of affairs. So, um, and so here's what expenditures look like. Um, so overall last school year, we spent $160 million providing special education services to our students.

058So you can see the the difference in the let's say it's $76 million that we received. Um and we spent 159. >> Can I ask some questions on this? When I looked at it, I had a couple questions if that's okay. No problem. >> We're staring at it together. >> Um I was just curious if this includes like um kids that are in their general education class. if it includes their teachers or if this is just the services they get outside of a general education classroom. Does that make sense? >> Yeah. So, so this number is specifically the direct special education expenditures. So, the the personnel the special educators I was talking about the the curriculum materials we purchase for for the delivery of special education, the supplementary services like the nurses. So that that's

059this number. This does not count this does not take into account some of the ADMR >> related costs that GenEd spends on every child with a disability. So there is a portion of every child with a disability that funds the first grade teacher, the 10th grade teacher >> just because they're in that classroom, but it's not being counted here. >> This is not in this table. >> Yeah. because it's hard to >> so like our fourth grade friend who probably has a onetoone para educator >> but is in a fourth grade classroom that you introduced us to before with high medical needs. Yep. >> Their para is counted here but the general ed teacher is not. >> Perfect. >> Thank you. >> How come uh transportation costs are so much lower cost? >> So that's

060a great question. Thank you for asking. So, a couple things. Um, we have the through the work of our special education department, our a teams and and in transportation in general, we worked really hard to um ensure students um were transported in the bus and and not some of the other individualized uh focus not because of need but because of schedule that were being provided. And so in some ways um previously students would might have been transported in a cab and it wasn't because that was a need. It was because um the routes could not work to help get the student to um the school that they were being served at. So um so they there was a lot of work to help do that. The other thing that we moved forward in this last

061year is there are many many expenses that occur in transportation because we transport students, not because we are transporting students that receive special education services. And so, um, with a shift in leadership, um, we really dove into, you know, electricity or diesel is something that we spend across the board. It's not a special ed expense. So, it's not that the district didn't spend the money. it's not part of the special education cost. So, both things happened though. So, u we made sure that kids were transported as they should be. Uh and then um also looked at why are we charging stuff to special ed that we shouldn't be. >> Well, it looks like we for two years we're doing something weird maybe too. >> Well, um I think that coming out our transportation needs not

062I think I know I I was here that whole time. our transportation needs coming out of the pandemic and the availability of bus drivers and and other things um was um something that we had to work through and we have to transport kids who need transportation and so services were accessed that costed more to help ensure kids got what they needed. >> Um little glimpse at our staffing. Um I will be the first to say that um we need more special education staffing and um we've grown in the in the number of students we have needed to support and consequently have grown in the number of staffing that um we have available. And so the these numbers are FTE. Uh so there may be more adults because not everybody works full-time. Um but uh we

063continue to grow that from this year to last year. Um you know even though the district experienced significant reductions, we were able to maintain staffing in special education um and even grow in some places. For example, you can see almost over 10 FTE uh for for some of the groups that we we needed to expand because of the numbers of kids we needed to serve and our PAR educators who are a huge component of this program. Um we we have currently um around the same amount we had last year but but we continue to add more into the system. >> Um I don't see PS on here. I was just curious where they're because I know we have a QMHP at our school that just works with special ed kids. So, I'm just curious where

064they're coming. >> Um they're just they're just not on this chart. >> Oh, okay. >> Yeah. >> Uh qualified mental health provider. So as part of the uh allocations that we provide to our social emotional skills classrooms is a is a and in in some like a pioneer is is a qualified mental health provider and they they help to support behavioral counseling needs and so not trying to not include them. There's we have the same amount we've had for the last couple years. Um so moving now transition moving into this last year. Um we started in January listening sessions ac across our our our system. Um and what listening session was is Dr. Charles and myself went and met with the special education staff at every building in the district and the building leader. Um

065and and our whole focus was in essence what do we need to do to help improve the system and of struct and and and support for students disabilities in this district. In addition to that we um have have I apologize I'll finish my sentence. We've had family listening sessions um and those started a little bit later in the year and we continue to do family listening in a variety of ways. Um again the whole p purpose was direct feedback on how families and staff experience special education in the system to address systemic needs. So through that process and and this is the um the the staff's response. So as as identified um we do it's not as the same rate that it used to be but we struggle with uh qualified staff um primarily and

066the biggest thing that we heard across the system that is of significant of significance is the amount of qualified substitute pair educators. So even though with additional funding from the state, from the federal government, we need to provide or would like to provide additional special educators. Even with that, with what is already allocated, we have 40 to 30 to 60 special education pareducator positions every day unfilled. Um and it's a huge issue uh across our system. >> What 8% or something? >> It's I just >> So we have about 470. I think I have I might have that in a >> You go back a second. We can see how many there are. Do the math. >> Oh yeah, 465. >> Yeah, thank you. So I think that's the math I was attempting to do.

067>> Yeah. Um, overall in in in the last since since since since I've came to Portland in 2122, we've averaged about a 35% fill rate uh for PAR educators uh substitutes um in our in in the system. So um and of course this is overwhelming. uh when that happens, a building has to figure out how to serve and support students even with absence. And so what does that mean? That means um the whole special ed team leaning in. It means perhaps a speech language pathologist who would be otherwise providing speech services, leaning in and supporting a student. It means building administration leaning in. Sometimes it means general education resources or multilingual supports leaning in to support students. Um so it's it's a big issue. Um additionally of course and and and something that that I

068spoke about earlier um but we have increasing complexity of student need uh in this system. Um, I think the two things combined, uh, not having resources that are otherwise allocated and then increasing student needs really creates a significant strain on the system and more importantly means that kids aren't getting their needs met. >> Um, in addition to that, our staff wanted a clear framework for what inclusive practices is and looks like. Um and and then of course there are processes that we use in special education that for a variety of reasons um needed clarity for for staff. Some of which is leadership changes, some of which is um new staff, but either way the system wasn't working and we needed to respond to it. And then of course and as we heard uh professional learning

069and addressing a system of professional learning um not only for our par educators but for our our licensed staff also. Um oh here's some more data on the the par educator staffing uh pareducator substitute fill rates uh for the last few years. Um, and just like I identified, it ranges anywhere from uh 23% to to up to 51% but never much more than that of our our staff. Um, in addition to that, um, substitute par educators was the primary focus and the largest loudest focus. Um, but in addition to that, folks talked about um, filling licensed positions also. So, I just have data um on where we are and things are getting better and it's still an issue. And so, on the right, the right it says par educators. So, those aren't those are positions

070being filled, not substitutes. >> And it's as of right now, >> uh for 2526, this was as of >> last week. Yeah. Now, I'm not saying that we don't have substitutes in those positions. I'm not saying we don't have or haven't come up with a strategy to support the absent school psychologists or the SOPs. Um, none of which, uh, I apologize, I'll pause. Every strategy implemented is amazing and it oftenimes results in educators in our system leaning in and providing support. Um, and it means that that is taking away from their capacity to do their work and kids need to be served. So folks are leaning in. Can >> I ask this really can I ask this really quick? Um, those are vacancies. So that means the FT for those are for >> Okay. Yep.

071So um so this is family and parent feedback. So um there's a theme that um process isn't being followed idea. So I talked about due process in the in the in the rights of students and families that receive special education. And so there is there the an overwhelming theme that the district the staff that represent the district um are not following process and that um IEPs are not being implemented. Um and so these this is these are things that our families and the families that participated in the learning listening sessions um communicated. There is a there is a and we've heard we heard it today um that the substitute issue is is significant um from a family's perspective also but then just in addition to that the am the number of qualified uh practitioners that

072are allocated to each building um families are concerned about low expectations and non-rigorous instruction uh for our students with disabilities. So, um, as I've talked about, we know that students, our general education for students first and students participated in the core curriculum provided by a general education teacher is going to positively impact and and support that student's learning and and yet we aren't there everywhere. Um and then in addition to that that communication and collaboration um was was um from buildings from educators from the district was a system that wasn't functioning. So we as as a team um needed to um implement some solutions um quickly uh to help support the system because as I put on the slide the system was in a bit of crisis and of course that was the whole reason

073that we went and visited to understand what needed to happen in the system because you can sit in the organizational chair about the system but then you have to get in it to figure out exactly how things are working. And so that's why we did that. And so we did move forward a solution for par educator substitutes. Um and and we did that as a result of not just listening to our staff, but then investigated like how do other districts exper do this? How do other districts solve this issue, including in Molten County, including across the state uh and outside of the state? and and so we put an RFP together and an agency uh was awarded a contract by you all a couple weeks ago um but from the district at the district's request

074to help us solve this problem because this is something that we cannot wait for a solution to solve. We have to begin to improve. We have to improve the the fill rate for our special educators and and PAR educators specifically. So this is just to address par educator substitutes, but that's that's what that focus is. Um, in addition to that, we implemented a weighted case load model in our neighborhood schools. So I talked a lot about neighborhood schools, what they're doing. Then I went in later to talk about our specialized programming. Um, well, when every child is being served in the neighborhood school, that means that we have to have a way of allocating staff that's reflective of specialized programming in addition to that neighborhood school. And so we worked with a committee. We uh

075that included our labor partner uh and special ed I apologize and principles and developed a weighted staffing model and that's what's been used to allocate FTE both teacher and pair educator to to buildings that are doing the neighborhood school model. Um yeah, we're we're excited about it. We continued to try and ensure as a committee, we'll continue to try and ensure as a committee that we we we hit it, but but we uh we worked hard as a as a system to try and support uh something that was different than what has always been done. Uh in addition, uh um we had to I uh put in place a system of professional learning. So, we put a workg group together um that to co-create what that looked like. So, an assessment was done of all

076of our staff to identify what are the needs and that work group worked on responding to that and then we've started to deliver that this school year and and we've received positive responses from our staff that something specific s systematic and organized is is being delivered and and the reality is is that's all the result of this workg group's work and and Dr. Charles's leadership related to that. Uh we had a workg group work on standardizing and clarifying our processes. Uh you're going to hear workg group a lot from me believe in co-creation versus doing. And so when I say workg groupoup that means I brought special educators together. I brought principles together and special ed administrators to to create these processes. >> How do you um build the work groups? Like what's your process?

077>> Um it's really complex. We ask everybody if they want to participate and folks that wanted to participate for the most part actually in every case in these senses they participated. >> So you have like a nice like all special ed staff and you just wrote them all and see who gave them. >> Doc Dr. Charles has a um um a communication that she sends to special education staff regularly. Uh and uh it was shared that we were doing that through this process. uh in some cases we might have work met with a specific group um to also include like I'm thinking like school psychologist for example >> I will say that um the workg groups came specifically from the listening sessions that we had um we kept hearing our staff and administrators talk about

078their challenges um and after a couple of months we began to see some of the same themes emerge and um the work groups came out of those conversations. >> Thank you so much. >> Uh with much of the work happening over the summer. >> Yeah. >> Do you compensate staff for their time? Great. Thank you. >> Yes. To you know make it verbal. >> Yeah. >> No, I just shook my head. >> Yeah. >> Um so the the other thing and I just mentioned a way in which we're doing that. So the work groups is one way that we're focused on rebuilding trust with with staff. Consistently implementing processes is the second way. And then the third way um a third way is the communication and the way uh in which Dr. Charles is focusing

079on communication with staff and leaders. And so um this is um something that we're committed to continuing to do to make sure that not only do people feel responded to but people feel supported. And so anyway, it's been a it's been a focus. And then um the the last thing that we began process on and and have implemented much for um and continue to support is um how we're supporting um IEPs and and the creation of that. So every child with that receives special education services has an IEP. That is what outlines what special education is for that young person. um the way in which that IEP is crafted in collaboration with the family um dictates how instruction is delivered and in addition to that accommodations in a variety of other other things. Um we

080need to make sure that that is done in collaboration with the family. We need to make sure that process is followed for that. We need to make sure that the annual review is done annually and and and uh that processes connected to the due process of special education are implemented. And so that's been a huge focus for us. In addition to that, when we don't have IEPs done by their annual dates, when census comes around or when the the federal count time comes around, we don't get funded for the students. So we in addition to all the other things identified if we're not in compliance when we have to be for students disabilities and by we I mean the family the district but it's the district's responsibility then that child doesn't we don't receive federal

081funding we still receive the state funding. Um anyway uh so these are some of the work groups that we were talking about. We did a change of placement work group. We had the whole the work group work on a procedural manual. We did the professional learning. I talked about the staffing allocation. And then another major theme that didn't need immediate response, but it's something that we'll be working on moving forward is the transitions, grade level transitions. So the feedback primarily was about kindergartener preschool to kindergarten. But but we need to have efficient and effective transitions from fifth grade to sixth grade, from the eighth grade to 9th grade. Um but so those work groups will be they've been communicated and and have started. >> So um >> what does change of placement mean? >> So

082an IEP >> what's that? So, so there's a special education law outlines that there's a process that has to be followed um for an IEP team to make a decision that a child needs a more what we call a more restrictive program, but for a specialized placement. Um and that process was um not it wasn't as clear and folks didn't understand it in the way that we needed it to be done in support of the kid and the young person and family's needs. I have a question that's okay. Um, so just trying to get a little perspective on kind of the need because I see the long-term actions. Um, but one of it is one issue obviously is like there's a shortage of special education teachers, >> right? And that's a nationwide >> shortage. And

083um, I know also know that you know the problem is worse in rural districts. You urban tends to have a higher percentage of the special education teachers. However, I remember from last year, I think it was you bringing up that uh families with kids that have like especially high needs and things like that tend to move to urban districts >> because there's things like clinics and hospitals and especially like our high-cost disability. And so that's also we also have a higher share of the percentage >> is if I'm if we're looking at the rate of like how many more special education percentage- wise versus how many more percentage-wise of students that have needs. Um are they do they kind of are they matching okay or is it one outpacing the other? You see what I'm

084kind of getting at? I'm just kind of curious about like is the demand even greater or less compared to say like a rural district. Oh. Um, yeah, it's >> I mean, you may not even have any clue about that, but >> so I I can I I know this um it's not uncommon and it's represented um in um the data for the metropolitan districts that the urban districts representation or number of kids that we serve, including the number of students with high needs, is higher than a a rural rural setting. That's not a case across the board 100% because sometimes there's communities that have a high level of need for one reason or another, but it tends to be that urban districts um and that's reported as true in in not just in Portland, but

085out in East County also tend to have higher representation um for some of the reasons you described um and consequently have and and need more special educators to respond to to to those needs. Um at the same time, you know, for example, in a rural system, you may have a smaller percentage, but uh depending upon your your your system, you may it may um one or two students needs may be huge and and and and dominate the needs of the whole system. So it's it's kind of a different it's a little bit of different worlds. >> Um in addition to that um >> we have improved uh with the number of special education positions that we have um unfilled and and what I mean by that is we continue to get better and better every

086year. Um because one reason is we have partnerships with um uh local universities on well first of all just doing stu they don't call them student teaching experiences anymore but student teaching experiences with us. Um in addition to that there's incentives right now at um one of the local universities for educators to become special educators. Um and and so we uh are working um hard with with those folks to do that. In addition to that, for positions like SLP, school psychologist, we we we recruit nationally and have done a good job of um filling those positions. Um and um we still have unfilled um and we work hard to support that. It doesn't mean that there's not a substitute in place, but not a um a permanent um special educator. you kind of get went

087right to where I was getting at like in terms of like trying to because I I see those the long-term actions those seem like more medium-term. Yeah. you know, for long term, we're we're looking at incentives and growing our own and things like that because I know like for example, many many many years ago, I think it's maybe still in practice, but like for example, there was a shortage of Spanish speaking teachers and what PPS did that was really cool was they allowed um Spanish speaking teachers to concurrently teach full-time and get their masters through like a partnership with PSU. And that way it wasn't as big of an economic barrier. >> Yeah. >> You know, for people to, you know, actually go, you know, the normal way is go through a whole mast's program

088first and then Yeah. >> start work. But yeah. Yeah. So, I'm just I'm just kind of curious about kind of the long-term incentives and programs and creative thinking. I think that's probably going to be necessary to if you're really going to tackle this. >> We are excited to launch a partnership with Portland State University. We'll have our firstformational session in a couple of weeks and these are general education teachers that want to add a special education license. So that's exciting. >> Virginia, you had a related question. >> I hope it's a good question. >> I thought you said a really good question. >> Um, so regarding identification, >> does that work in two ways? that the district could initiate identification for a child or does the family um or caregiver have to initiate identification for

089a child? >> No, it's a that's a great question. Um it's >> Thank you. >> So, it's it's it yes. So, yes, a family can make a referral and makes referrals um we also get referrals um from healthc care providers uh and preschool teachers. Um but then in addition to that, yes, special education staff or general education staff make referrals. >> Is is there data on how many families um who have received evaluations but have been denied services for one reason or another? >> Is there data so >> or you know they don't >> Yes, we we know how many families who have been evaluated and determined to not be eligible. >> Okay. And I'm asking this only because I could see how um the sped cap could unintentionally create a system that would deny

090services due to lack of funding. >> So no, I appreciate that. Um so the district is uh well first and foremost special educators are focused on ensuring that students with disabilities are >> you know that I'm not you know this is nothing to do with you guys. I'm everything to do with creating a system where it's impossible to win it. >> Correct. I I I hear you. Um so special educators are focused on that. Um districts are also held accountable though through special education. We we are audited frequently to and and an audit includes reviewing IEPs, reviewing evaluations to ensure and this audit the audits are done by OD to ensure that we are identifying students um where we need to be identifying students regardless of funding. So the the the thing about special education

091is is these services are to be provided regardless of funding which is why and and I'm not we need more funding. And you know, but it's why I don't remember what the number was, but it's like we we collect 75 million, but we spent 170 million in in in the services uh and needs for students with disabilities. So So yes, the system, the way the system is set up by the state, by the federal government isn't the most effective or efficient way to support students disabilities. And our special educators work very hard to ensure that we're identifying the students who have needs. responsibility. >> Yeah. >> So what Dr. Char, I don't know if you heard the question, but >> say it for the mic. Um in addition to serving the students we serve in

092the district, um we are through federal funds, we are um required also to make sure that services are provided to students who are eligible who access private schools. And so there is a um proportion of the federal money is called proportionate shares that is allocated to support services for students who may also attend private schools. Now, there's a lot of rules around how that's implemented, but the the focus is is is making sure that a child who experiences a disability who receives special education services is provided them regardless of whether or not they attend a public school. We um we we support students in the same way that or not that same way, but also that may be homeschooled as if they're in our boundary. >> I can see how that cap would make it

093very difficult in terms of like when you're making a decision. certainly doesn't make it any any easier. >> The the caps are issues for us. IEP teams. Um I don't I I I I wouldn't be able to tell you that every special educator understands how the ADM, ADMW or CAP works because their focus is on what instruction is needed to support >> and Yes. >> Yeah. I just I I don't think there's probably any of us, you know, that are on the board that haven't heard from a family who has believes strongly that their child needs an IEP and is having trouble getting one. So, when I see numbers like that, that's can see why they're so challenging. >> I sent some questions in advance, but I have a couple others, too. I think I

094have four. Um, first, I just want to comment back. I listened to the testimony on the CAP bill, and that was one of the things that came up. um that it creates a disincentive. So even though I understand why saying so is really hard to do, um there was definitely testimony that that's that it created that disincentive. >> Yeah. Um so let's see. I'm going to ask my two surprise questions first. >> And then I'll ask my ones I I told Rosanne to tell you about already. Um, I, uh, if you recall, couldn't remember what question I had the other day and then I told you I told you behind the scenes. Um, I'm just curious how like what's your plan? Oh, thank you so much for coming and sitting this whole time to listen

095to something that wasn't necessarily what you were here for, but we just want to Yeah, good to know. And just thank you for coming. Yeah, it is. And helps explain some of the issues we have with class sizes outside of our special ed programming, too. Right. Anyway, thank you so much. We hear you and see you. Um, so I just wanted to say quickly, uh, for those watching, some people left the room that were here, but, um, I'm curious what your plan is for evaluating how that using the agency instead of doing in-house um, parah um, substitute staffing will go. I guess I don't even really care what the plan is right now. I just want you to affirm that you have one. >> Correct. Yes. the the focus of the RFP and and the

096contract is that the fill rates increase. Okay. And so evaluating what those are and ensuring that we're addressing the needs is is will determine whether we continue >> and maybe will you also consider talking to boots on the ground to see how it's feeling for them? >> Oh yeah, I think a commitment that Dr. Charles and I have made um and we we've demonstrated and the reason why I said we've made is to continue to engage our staff um in either addressing procedures or processes or just gathering feedback. >> Great. Thank you. I also just wanted to ask a little bit more of an observation on the weighted case load model. Um, I have finally gotten around to start visiting schools, which for those who don't know has been a bit of a challenge for

097me with my work schedule, but I'm I'm doing it. And one of the things I heard was about a about an awareness that a principal had that they had a 34 to one case load where they had one a 1.0 FTE for 34 students, but then noted that there were several other schools that had the same number of FTE for 25. Mhm. >> Um and so I was just curious if you plan on kind of revisiting and right sizing that to make sure that as we move into that it actually is indeed fair. Um or or if um like are you like going to look and see where there's those incidents of where things are out of whack and make adjustments or is it just going to be consistent or what's the plan? >> Yeah.

098So no, thank you for that. Um current right we are currently in the process right now um in in how um we implement staffing allocation in special education of doing rebalancing. Mhm. >> Um and so yes, we are looking at places where something wasn't what we thought it would be, you know, when we staffed last spring and then and then we did make some adjustments in August, but the real but the reality is is students continue to show up. Um, but the October 1st count in our agreement, it's not the October 1st count, the October count in our agreement is where we look at what the remedy for high case loads is. Um, and and that primarily is providing overage uh to the uh staff and at the same time where there's um significant disparities,

099we go through and try to balance things out. >> Unfortunately, what that means though is staff get reassigned. So, we also have to take into consideration what that impact is. Um, and and and and also the the makeup of needs that are being served because >> some of our staff have a case load of 10 >> and that's too much, >> right? >> Some of our staff have a case load of 40 and it's doable. Um, so it's not a numbers aren't always the response and um it's how we baseline allocate. So based on ratios um of staff to to students. So >> I was specifically just to be clear hearing about um the number of kids that are general ed population on IEPs the resource room teacher. Yeah. Yeah. >> Yeah. Okay. That was

100where and it was funny because the 25% was saying how they had lost FTE and it was so terrible and I was like I just heard about 34 somewhere else. So um okay well um thank you for taking a look at that going forward and um maybe um I noticed that um Dr. Cardona who's in the audience hi hi talk about you um uh did a lot of work with like a flexible pool of fund to deal with um issues after the school year started um to deal with like you had like a flexible pot of money that you were able to use set aside. So maybe a set aside could be a good idea in the future with this new weighted model. >> In addition to the set aside that Dr. Kona facilitates, special

101education has some set aside too. Um so so in response to what you're saying that that is part of >> um what what is done um and it's at some point that becomes done and and and um you know because of how the overall system is is staffed we we reach a limit of FTE that's >> right and then my two questions I sent in advance um so I'm just curious um you mentioned that not you had a nice catchall phrase but was like an and or but the um oh gosh now I can't remember the the you had like an overall name for like SEI SCEs social emotional skills communication behavior intensive skills instruction so those classrooms um are spread around the district not every school has one and I'm just curious well I

102guess I'd be curious in the future I think I've said this before for the heat map to include which schools have those classrooms that get published so we know where those extra needs are. But part of the reason I want to know that is because of my experience having an SCES classroom specifically at our school and seeing how that affects so much beyond the SCES classrooms themselves and the staff that are identified for those classes. For example, principles and administrators spend most most of their time with those kids, not with the general ed population in those schools. And so I'm just curious how the district supports those schools that have those types of classrooms and provides them with extra support so that they can take care of those kids and also take care of general

103ed population kids which in many cases include a large percentage of special ed kids or kids that have yet to be identified as having needs but um don't have support unless you all lean in. >> Right. So yeah, thank you. So um first and foremost the the special education resources allocated to those schools are in in each program staff slightly differently. So um for example a social emotional skills classroom will have a teacher um they'll have pair educators they'll have a tick which is a um therapeutic intervention coach and then um we'll have qmp um now I'm not saying those are all full-time. It depends on the number of how many classrooms and and and and and how many um uh students are in the classroom. Uh and so each each SCES classroom of course

104will have a teacher and pair educators and take but the the QMHP may serve across two classrooms. Um so that's the primary resource and support of students um in the I think I called it focus specialized classroom. >> Yeah. Yeah. It's like focus or specialized Yeah. >> Um and then our our CB classrooms, our ISC classrooms are staffed slightly differently. Um and the primary difference is they the QHP isn't a pre-allocated that there's a teacher and a pre-amount of PAR educators. They're allocated for a ratio of student teachers. It's um you the it's usually up to 13 students um depending upon No, it is um in all three of those. Um so that's the that's the first primary resource. In addition to that special education centrally supports um specialists so additional specialists to to allocate

105um to the building and by allocate I don't mean allocate I mean dispatch to the buildings uh to provide additional specialist supports. So we um for example for behavior supports have a board certified behavioral analyst. Uh we have autism specialists and then um we have teachers on special assignment. Now, I'm not trying to communicate to you that we have we we could we would love more of those folks. Um and at the same time, um those those folks are then out providing additional supports to buildings where they have a um a unique need that arises that the staff at the that are already allocated to the building don't. So, that's the special education allocation uh for for our buildings, for our focus classrooms. Um in addition to that in in in our elementary um core

106program guide uh there is FTE for administration allocated or administrative support allocated to buildings. Um you know probably not where it needs to be. Um and that that is for some of the programs specifically the behavior programs and the CB programs taken into consideration from the general fund um to to support um the functioning of the building. Now at the same time because we believe that um building leadership need to make decisions as to how to go about um providing supports that that FTE may be allocated in to do something um that is also supportive of those uh the the needs but may not translate into like a an assistant principal. Um, outside of that, of course, every special education student that receives special education services is gened student first. And so, um, there's a

107school counselor, there's a there's student service providers that are allocated to buildings um on a uh spectrum uh and and that may be a a school counselor, a climate specialist, um an interventionist. Some of those are decisions made at the local at the school level. Um but um those those right now are what is done in support of of what what you're talking about for all students including students with disabilities. Um yeah. >> Okay. And then when you um you and I have talked about another school and my school that I've had issues where those programs get it's like the programs themselves get disregulated or like have a lot of issues. Usually it starts with some pareducator absences >> and then that spins out over the course of time. >> Um and there's triage that

108has to happen. Um, similarly, triage when you have kindergarteners that come in and need essentially one-on-one support and don't have the paperwork in place to get that support or to be placed in or have the proper supports for that kid. So, I'm just curious how the district helps schools um when they do have like triage those types of situations when there's um either not a plan for a kinder or um just uh there's some sort of >> unforeseen need for triage. Um and we've gone through one of these before. I was on the school board where it took a while to get that triage, but we got it and it really helped. So, I'm just curious if that lesson's been learned. Are we do we have a plan now for when that happens so that

109it doesn't take quite so long to to get things back in alignment? >> Yeah. And and and of course the um the first response um is to uh support the the classroom, the specialized classroom. And so some of some of the things I just described are what we the folks we would allocate to to help um come in and and put systems and structures in place and support the teacher to do that. Um so that would be a tossa some of our behavior specialists. So um then when we're talking about students who may not be eligible yet for special education services or or maybe not even at all because they don't experience a disability. um the uh respon so each building accord and I talked about this a little bit earlier has their student intervention

110team and it's composed of um student service providers but also teachers and and and the administrators um they facilitate um behavior interventions for um the students whose needs are um unexpected or or or beyond what um is just facilitated by classroom management. Um then in addition to that and and this is something that we expanded um last year it may have been the year before but last year significantly and we continue to have this we have um what's called the rapid response team. So that's a centralized group of folks who when requested um by the building um after they the intervention team has worked to support the student um they um they come out and provide direct support like uh additional specialists to help facilitate >> um you know addressing the needs of the student.

111Now, sometimes, you know, the team makes a decision that the student needs to be evaluated for special education. Um, and of course, that puts them into the special education realm of potential supports and those that's when we send out some of the the special education service providers. >> Um, my last question, I also meant to just kind of throw in there a comment about the um rapidly decreasing number of educational aids that are in like our general ed population. um over the last several years for schools that either have had cuts for five years straight or schools have had cuts just last year for the first time but lost a lot of their educational aids at once. Um there's nobody to step in and provide one-to-one support when you have new students or kindergarteners or

112students who, you know, didn't have behavioral issues and suddenly are requiring classes to be cleared. Um and so I just will throw that out there as um a comment versus a question to spare you. Thank you. Thanks everyone. I had a lot of questions on this one. >> Yeah. So I that um well we hit everything I had in a slide. So uh um happy to answer any additional questions that folks have. >> Thank you. I uh also really appreciate it and I want to uh give special appreciation to the act of listening and being responsive to what you hear. >> Um it's really important and I'm so glad that yall are doing that work. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Well, our next meeting of the teaching, learning, and enrollment committee is scheduled for

113November 13th. The meeting will focus on Jefferson dual assignment and include an update on the community engagement sessions that are scheduled for this month. For public awareness, I'd like to announce that the district is holding five community engagement sessions regarding the Jefferson High School assignment area. Monday, October 20th at Oley Green. Thursday, October 23rd at Harriet Tubman. Monday, October 27th at Fabian, Wednesday, October 29th at Vernon, and Thursday, November 5th virtual. All engagements will begin at 5:30 p.m. except for Fabians, which will begin at 6. Every family who lives in the Jefferson Catchment area should have received an email via Parent Square, and more information will be shared with principles to their school communities. You can also find the information on our website, pps.net. net. As a reminder, we will hear the results of this

114feedback at our November 13th TLE committee and the whole board will discuss the recommended proposal at the December 16th full board work session. We are planning for a board vote in January 2026. With that, this meeting is adjourned. Thank you everybody. >> Thank you.