'Needs not numbers.' Teachers, families protest Seattle schools special education staff changes

Educators and parents of students with disabilities are pushing back against Seattle Public Schools’ plan to reduce special education staffing at some schools nearly two months into the academic year. They say the district’s plans are short-sighted and will jeopardize the emotional, physical, and academic well-being of an already vulnerable student population.

They also argue that the district has failed to adequately communicate about these changes with impacted families and educators, or consider their input.

Citing dwindling enrollment, Seattle Public Schools on Oct. 20 notified its special education staff via email that some of them would be shuffled out of their schools but remain employed with the district, as part of routine fall staffing adjustments. Since the 2019-2020 school year, enrollment in the district has dropped by roughly 3,440 students.

The district told KUOW that a total of 26 special education positions had been “adjusted” based on enrollment, but only 15 staff would be reassigned to different schools. Those changes are slated to take effect on Nov. 1.

Dozens of educators and families protested the staffing change at a rally Wednesday afternoon, held outside of Seattle Public Schools’ headquarters. The slogan “needs not numbers” adorned several signs, emphasizing the principle of keeping special education students’ needs, rather than traditional enrollment-based staffing formulas, at the forefront of staffing decisions.

The union representing educators in the district, the Seattle Education Association, maintains that district officials have reneged on their contractual duty to engage educators and parents in the decision-making process for such staffing changes.

“Don't send us [enrollment] numbers,” said Uti Hawkins, vice president of the Seattle Education Association. “Come talk about if your numbers meet student needs to strive above the minimum of service.”

Janis White, who leads the Seattle Special Education PTSA, said that families had been left off of Seattle Public Schools’ special education task force until recently.

“The task force is where the data underlying these kinds of staffing decisions is supposed to be shared and discussed,” White said.

Joana Pio, a stay-at-home mom, has a son in third grade at Highland Park Elementary who is in a social and emotional learning classroom, a division of the district's special education services. She’s concerned about how students like her son will fare in social and emotional learning classrooms with more students and less staff.

“He relies heavily on having an adult help him refocus,” Pio said. “When there are students who are not listening or creating chaos in the classroom, then that causes him to backpedal.”

While many students — especially those with disabilities — struggled to stay afloat during remote learning, Pio said that her son thrived at home where distractions were limited and she could be more hands-on. But when this school year rolled around, he told her he wanted to go back in-person.

“One of the main reasons why he wanted to go back was because of the [social and emotional learning] team, which includes two of the staff members that are going to be switched to different schools now,” Pio said, adding that she would have kept her son home if she had known sudden disruptions to his program would arise.

For her son, the anticipation of losing part of his teaching team alone has been distressing, she said.

“We understand the importance of him making friends and being social. But then at the same time...how much emotional stress is this really going to cause?” Pio said.

In addition to her concerns about the staff changes, Pio said she felt left in the dark by district officials, who initially left communication about the changes in the hands of individual schools. Pio found out about the staffing adjustments from her son’s teacher.

“Frankly, to me, it just seemed very sneaky the way that the district did it,” she said.

Pio said she only received communication from district officials about the staffing changes after indignant parents began writing to them.

News of the staffing changes also landed hard for special education staff, who say they’re doing their best to support students — many of whom have fallen several grade levels behind during Covid — through their own pandemic burnout and heavy workloads.

“This has already been a crazy year with teachers missing their breaks,” said one elementary level social and emotional learning teacher. "It's the worst year I've ever taught and I thought remote was bad."

The teacher, who spoke to KUOW on the condition of anonymity, citing concerns about retaliation, works with students who tend to act out behaviorally — including by self-harming, hurting others, and “trashing” classrooms.

“It's intense and there's very little support,” they said. “You have to have a certain personality type and be able to let things roll off of you, or you won't do well in this. You have to do a lot of de-escalation training.”

The teacher also underscored the broader shortage of special educators in Washington state, pointing out that it could be difficult to re-staff classrooms down the road if staff decide to leave the district altogether.

They added that as more kids get identified as having significant behavioral needs throughout a school year, social and emotional learning classrooms often grow. Plus, elementary schools impacted by the recent staffing adjustments will be compelled to combine all grade levels into a single social and emotional learning classroom, instead of having separate classrooms for grades K-2 and 3-5 respectively, they said.

“That's not safe, and it's also not developmentally appropriate for kindergarteners and first graders to be in a classroom with fifth graders.”

In a statement sent out on Wednesday, district officials wrote, “SPS recognizes that educational staff moves can be disruptive to students, families, staff, and the school community. For this reason, SPS will provide support throughout the transition. These staffing adjustments are made with the singular focus on addressing the unmet needs of students with IEPs (Individualized Education Program).”

The statement goes on to say that the district currently employs 74 full-time special education staff, “more than is required to meet student need.” But, the statement continues, “there are classrooms where students with IEPs are experiencing an unacceptable student-to-teacher ratio as high as 54 to 1. SPS’s staffing adjustments recognize the need to reallocate resources to better serve student needs.”

In addition to concerns about the immediate effects of the staffing adjustments, another special education teacher pointed to the potential for enrollment to surge as younger children become eligible for Covid-19 vaccinations.

That teacher, who also spoke to KUOW on the condition of anonymity, said that the displacement of special education staff was especially inequitable, considering other student demographics — such as those in general education classrooms or the district’s highly capable program — likely won’t be affected to the same extent by staff adjustments.

“These are kids with families who have trauma and can’t always fight back,” she said.

As for her colleague, they said they’ve received several job offers in other districts that they are considering in the wake of the staffing adjustments.

“I’m really close to quitting,” they said. “But I love my students, I love my team, I love my principal, and I love the families I work with.”