Daniel Prince
Special needs population expresses some concerns
At Monday night’s meeting of the Union County Board of School Trustees, Director of Administration Eric Childers shared some of the highlights from the community survey the district put out gauging interest in a modified schedule. There were 706 total responses to the survey, and 59% of them indicated they were interested in a modified schedule. Another 17% said they might be interested but wanted more information, and 24% stated they were not interested. A separate survey of staff members across the district yielded 150 responses, and 67% of staff members said they were interested; 15% might be interested but wanted more information; and 18% said they were not interested. 55% of parents said they were interested, with another 19% needing more information and 26% not interested.
The top positive feedback point was the same for both the staff and the community, saying they liked that the intersession periods would give breaks to students and staff. Second in staff feedback and third in the community was that the intersession periods would allow for students to receive early support when it is needed most. Third for staff and second for the community was that they liked that there is still a long summer break.
The top two concerns for the staff was “other”, which they were given the opportunity to elaborate on, and that their household has connections to other local districts, and being on multiple calendars would be difficult. For the community, the top concern was that they believed students and teachers need ten weeks off in the summer, and the #2 concern was that the shift could negatively affect childcare arrangements.
The school level feedback results were similar across the district, with a majority at all schools except Buffalo stating they were interested, and fewer than 25% indicating they were not interested. Buffalo’s results had 44% interested, 38% not interested, and the other 18% wanting more information. Childers said Buffalo has the highest number of special education students, and feedback he was getting from those parents mostly dealt with the special education population, in getting them reacclimated to school following a two-week break. Board member Mike Massey asked if the district had talked about the special needs concerns, and Childers said they had talked with some of the district’s special education personnel, and he said they did not feel it would be an issue. Massey asked if Childers could reach out to other school districts, such as Greenwood, who are on the modified schedule, and see if they had encountered those concerns, and what their experience has been like for their special needs populations.
Mark Ivey expressed concerns about the intersession periods, and wondered what those students would be getting in those three days that they weren’t getting already from the interventionists working in the schools on a daily basis. He also wanted to know how much it would cost the district in terms of teacher and staff pay. Superintendent Joey Haney said the intersession periods were basically taking the time and money that the district normally spends in the summer on learning camps and spreading them throughout the year. He said he would get the board details on the money, but it should come out roughly the same. Dr. Lacresha Byrd said that the intersession periods would allow for a smaller population and more focused interventions targeting the individual’s areas of weakness to move them along.