District 308 Needs More Special Education Teachers By January

School Board members got a rather expensive surprise Monday night.

A recent comprehensive audit of the district’s special education program has led officials to request the hiring of new teachers to handle an increasing caseload to the tune of $207,000 for the second half of the year. They hope to have those teachers in place by January.

The audit was spearheaded by Christine Nelson, the district’s new director of student services. Nelson presented her findings to the board, along with a recommendation to hire the total equivalent of 7.5 full-time teachers for five of the district’s schools, including both high schools.

The reason, according to Nelson, is that the number of students with individualized education programs—a specialized curriculum designed to meet the needs of a single student—exceeds the number that the staff in those schools can comfortably manage. The formula, Nelson said, calls for a maximum of 16 to 18 cases per educator, and the districtwide average is 16.5.

However, five of the district’s schools—, and junior high schools, and both high schools—are either over that number, or on the high end of the average. And when it comes to number of cases per educator, Oswego’s junior high and high schools are well above those of the district’s neighbors, including Yorkville, Plainfield and West Aurora.

is at 20 students per educator, at 22, Traughber Junior High at 17, Thompson Junior High at 17.5, and Plank Junior High at 19.4.

“Having larger caseloads impacts our ability to meet our students’ needs,” Nelson said.

To rectify the situation, Nelson has requested the equivalent of two new full-time teachers at Oswego High School, three at Oswego East, 1.5 at Plank Junior High, and 0.5 each at Thompson Junior High and Traughber Junior High. Ideally, she said, these new employees would be in place when students return in January.

While neither Nelson nor Kristine Liptrot, director of communications, would say that prior annual audits were lacking, this is the first such study to show this particular need for more special education teachers. The district, Nelson said, has been “conservative in its hiring, but we saw this as a need based on the number of students in the special education program.”

While the state has class size guidelines for special education, and Oswego schools are within them, Nelson said districts can develop their own caseload guidelines.

Board President Bill Walsh said the results of the study and the request for more teachers were a bit surprising. Board members questioned whether those students with individual education programs, but not needing special education, could be sent to other classrooms, lessening the load on special education teachers.

“It’s extremely important to be in compliance, and give all children the opportunity to learn, and the district is very focused on giving all children the support they need to learn,” Walsh said. “At the same time, this was not anticipated.”

Walsh said the board has been assured that there is room in the budget for the new hires. But, he noted, that $207,000 will only get them through the end of the school year, and may be considerably more when talking about a full year’s employment for those new teachers in 2012-13.

Nelson said if the board decides not to move forward on this request, it would be “challenging” for the special education program. Students who already have their class schedules in hand for the second half of the year would need to be shuffled around, she said, and there would still not be enough staff.