photo by Jana Birchum
After months of internal dialogue about its miserable work culture, and facing legal action over its handling of student evaluations,
Austin ISD s
Special Education Department has publicized an ambitious reform plan. The change involves both new leadership – Dr.
Theresa Arocha-Gill will start as executive director on May 17 – and laying off 88 employees, asking them to reapply for their positions.
The district already faces a severe shortage of staffers to assess student eligibility for special education services and help develop education plans, after months if not years of outcry over absurd workloads, low compensation, and toxic professional environments. In a press conference on Friday, Chief Academic Officer
KUT
After months of criticism about a backlog of special education evaluations, Austin ISD announced Friday that it s laying off all the special education staff in its district office as part of a reorganization.
The district said the reorganization is needed to help correct a “toxic work environment” that led many of the people who do these evaluations to quit one reason for the backlog.
Elizabeth Casas, AISD’s chief academic officer, said she wants to create a “clean slate” in the department. Under the district s plan, all current special ed employees will be gone by the summer. They can reapply for new positions, but nothing is guaranteed.
Some employees in Austin ISD s special education department received letters this week saying their jobs were being eliminated as part of a reorganization.
Elizabeth Casas, AISD s chief academic officer, said Friday she needed to take drastic measures because a toxic work environment had caused a backlog of special education evaluations. She said 900 students are still awaiting them.
“I heard loud and clearly from our community and our parents, she said. They are not happy with the services the SPED department has given over the years.”
The district would not give the exact number of employees affected.
There have been three executive directors in six years and a lot of turnover in the department, Casas said.