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Description
From the Philadelphia City Council Committee on Education held Monday, November 28, 2016:
Academy at Palumbo Special Education Teacher Colleen Lawson testifies on the challenges of teacher retention and recruitment in the School District of Philadelphia.
View the full hearing here: https://youtu.be/zfTHKrvMFTQ
A
Name
is
Colleen
Lawson,
Thornton
and
I
a
man,
a
teacher
in
my
eighth
year
in
the
district
I,
have
an
abbreviated
version
of
my
original
testimony,
but
I
also
broadly,
I
am
Colleen.
Yes,
I
also
brought
copies
of
my
I
guess,
we'll
call
it
unabridged
version
that
I
hope
you'll
have
the
chance
to
look
at
later.
A
There
continues
to
be
an
unacceptable
number
of
vacancies
across
the
district.
Many
of
these
vacancies
are
special
education
teachers,
one-to-one
assistance,
and/or
classroom
assistants.
With
these
positions,
unfilled,
special
education
teachers
and
building
staff
are
unable
to
implement
students,
individualized
education
plans
and
positive
behavior
support
plans.
We
need
these
positions
filled
immediately
to
provide
a
free
and
appropriate
public
education
for
all
of
the
children
in
our
district.
Ensuring
that
Philadelphia
has
a
qualified
teacher
in
front
of
every
student
for
the
entire
year
should
be
the
district's
number
one
priority.
A
It
is
not
enough
to
say
that
99%
of
vacancies
are
filled.
The
one
percent
of
students
who
do
not
have
a
teacher
represent
over
3,000
students
who
are
not
given
their
most
basic
right
to
a
teacher.
The
high
number
of
vacancies
across
the
district
result
in
special
education
teachers
being
pulled
from
their
duties
to
provide
coverage
for
general
education
classes
or
to
become
the
teacher
of
record
for
classes
outside
their
areas
of
certification
and
expertise.
As
a
result,
special
education
students
lose
out
on
supports,
designed
to
help
them
make
academic
progress.
A
This
means
that
it
is
not
just
students
in
schools
with
special
education
teacher
vacancies
that
are
being
denied
the
specially
designed
instruction
outlined
in
their
individualized
education
plans.
Due
to
the
high
number
of
vacancies,
leveling
hit
special
education
department
across
the
district,
especially
hard
this
year.
At
my
school
we
lost
one
of
the
two
learning
support
teachers
we
had
at
my
school.
This
means
that
the
special
education
departments
rosters
changed
the
number
of
students
I
support,
doubled.
A
We
lost
the
ability
to
provide
our
students
with
autism
the
self-contained
classes
they
require
in
order
to
make
academic
progress,
we
lost
prep
time
to
develop
employment
programming
with
community
partners
for
our
students
with
autism.
We
lost
collaborative
planning
time
that
was
being
used
to
develop
our
transition
program
for
both
post-secondary
preparation
and
employment,
preparation
for
our
learning
support
students
and
we
lost
collaborative
planning
time
with
general
education
teachers
who
support
our
students
with
disabilities.
A
A
The
second
thing
that
I
would
like
to
address
is
the
unrealistic
expectations
that
are
put
on
teachers,
but
I'll
specifically,
look
at
special
education
teachers
based
on
special
education
teacher
inventory
that
I
created
special
education
teachers
across
the
district
spend
an
average
of
eight
hours
of
unpaid
time
each
week,
completing
special
education
paperwork.
This
includes
reevaluation
reports,
individualized
education
plans,
functional
behavior
assessments
and
positive
behavior
support
plans.
Every
special
education
teacher
in
this
district
will
tell
you
that
there
during
school
time
is
for
students.
It
is
focused
on
time
spent
with
kids
and
not
paperwork.
A
Special
education
teachers
will
never
prioritize
paperwork
over
students,
but
because
paperwork,
not
students,
is
the
priority
of
the
district.
We
are
required
to
volunteer
our
time
to
complete
it
outside
of
our
unpaid
hours.
One
of
the
biggest
issues
that
we
face
is
caseload
numbers
special
education.
Teacher
allotment
is
based
on
the
number
of
students
receiving
specially
designed
instruction
in
a
building.
The
number
of
breakdowns
are
antiquated
and
come
from
a
time
when
special
education
teachers
did
not
have
the
volume
of
teaching
duties
or
other
professional
responsibilities
that
we
do
now.
A
Special
education
teacher
duties
have
changed
and
increased,
but
the
system
for
determining
teacher
allotment
has
been
adjusted
to
match
our
evolving
duties
because
we
are
facing
unrealistic
caseload
sizes.
It
is
impossible
to
provide
appropriate
supports
to
special
education
students,
I'd
like
to
close
my
testimony
today
with
recommendations
for
the
school
district,
specifically
for
the
office
of
specialized
services,
which
is
the
department
in
charge
of
special
education.
A
I
need
to
reevaluate
special
education
caseload
guidelines
to
take
into
account
teaching
assignments
and
other
school
duties
and
restructure
special
education,
teacher
and
SEL
responsibilities
to
reflect
actual
responsibilities
and
provide
adequate
teacher
allotment
to
schools
based
on
these
updated
responsibilities.
I
would
also
like
them
to
ensure
that
each
school
has
a
necessary
resources
to
provide
appropriate
instruction
to
students
with
disabilities.
A
Necessary
resources
include
testing
instruments,
intervention
materials,
buses
for
community-based
instruction,
sufficient
121
and
classroom
assistants.
Add
a
quick
time
allotment
for
related
service
providers
such
as
our
speech
therapists,
caring,
specialist,
occupational
therapists,
physical
therapists.
Thank
you
for
allowing
me
to
speak
today.