Schools

Letter to Thurmond: Why So Many Special Education Vacancies?

Nearby Dunwoody: DeKalb Council of PTAs Special Needs Chair has questions about the DeKalb County Schools HR Division.

Originally posted by Hunt Archbold 

Mr. Thurmond, 

On Oct. 7, Dr. Ward-Smith requested I communicate with you if I have any inquires regarding the Division of Human Resources. Respecting her wishes, it is to you I ask my questions. 

How come Title 1 teachers have a separate classification in PATS and the Monthly HR reports, but not in the salary ranges reported on the county's website

Also, is anything being done to investigate the number of teacher vacancies in the Special Education Department? I looked through PATS this morning and there are 31 openings for full time SPED teachers if you include gifted, Reading Specialists, Occupational Therapist, and Speech Language Pathologist. That appears to be an inordinately large number of positions for a department that serves less than 10% of the student population. This morning there was a total of 49 full time positions listed. 

Mr. Coleman has asked at least twice for the teacher turnover percentage to see how DeKalb County Schools compares to other districts in the metro Atlanta area and nationally. Can Dr. Ward Smith verbally include in the monthly HR report a summary of the previous school year's, or previous fiscal year's, teacher resignations and those comparisons? 

Thank you for taking the time to address these questions and I look forward to a reply before the BOE work session on Monday.

Kirk Lunde
Tucker, GA 
Special Needs Chair, DeKalb Council of PTAs 


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