By Conor McGinley
Baltimore Watchdog Staff Writer
Teachers need more time to plan lessons for their class, especially for special education, the president of the local teachers union told the Baltimore County Board of Education on Tuesday.
Cindy Sexton also said there is a shortage of special education teachers, which leads to some teachers in BCPS having to take on the workload of two teachers.
“The special ed world as we have always known it is not working for our teachers and our students,” Sexton said. “It is unsustainable and unrealistic to expect a special educator to be able to effectively case manage 25 students, and teach, and collaborate with gen-ed teachers, and attend IET meetings, and collect data, and create and monitor behavior charts.” An IET meeting is usually between a teacher and parent of a child who qualifies for special education.
The extensive workload causes special education workers to leave their profession, Sexton said, adding that 27 Special Education Inclusion Teachers have resigned since August 1 and more than 300 have left over the past three years.
Sexton also told the board that it must address growing class sizes. With the lack of a school-wide discipline plan in place and fewer supports, “the safe world, the one we have always known at BCPS, that has given us our identity, is unsustainable and unrealistic,” Sexton said.
Other residents spoke about overcrowding in schools.
“The cafeteria and gymnasium at Hampton Elementary is not equipped to handle this level of student enrollment,” said county resident Julie Dyer said. “And despite asking for the funds to renovate the cafeteria and gymnasium, they were not renovated.”
In other action, the Baltimore County Board of Education appoint Megan Britt as a specialist certified behavior analyst in the Office of Special Education, Teaching and Learning.
Britt served recently in Baltimore City Public Schools as a behavior consultant and as a clinical supervisor, a behavior analyst at Verbal Beginnings and Southlake Autism and Behavior Services.