OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. - Teachers and advocates are voicing concerns over the Osceola County school district's changes to special education that went into effect at the beginning of the school year.
During a school board meeting on Tuesday, Osceola County Educators Association President Janet Moody warned about the consequences of the policy that consolidated ESE classrooms into hub schools and reintroduced some special needs students into general education classes.
"We cannot continue to bury our heads in the sand and pretend like the ESE changes are going to make our district better," Moody said. "Our teachers are quitting. Our ESE support staff are quitting."
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The OCTA has called on the district to review turnover data, develop an improved training plan and to reconvene a special needs task force.
Daryl Greenwood is a special education advocate who was also at the meeting and said the changes have led to behavior issues for many of the students she works with.
"The gen-ed teachers are having these students come in that aren't prepared for the rigor of the gen-ed curriculum," Greenwood said. "We have all of these other kiddos that are suffering and not having the proper support and learning environment."
Greenwood said the school district should look at providing more staff and training for teachers who are still adjusting to the change.
"This is a true crisis and I don't know how it can be remedied in time to save the school year," Greenwood said. "We have all of these other kiddos that are suffering and not having the proper support and learning environment."
The school district has said the change was in response to state standards for inclusivity and to better address the learning challenges of all students.
Superintendent Dr. Mark Shanoff has defended the change and said he expects a lot of problem-solving while students and teachers are adjusting to the policy.
"This is going to be a messy lift. It wasn't going to be clean," Shanoff said. "At the end of the day, we're going to make sure our students are successful and we get there by having teachers that are successful as well."
The district has not said if it will implement any of the suggestions from teachers and education advocates.