Colorado teachers denied reemployment by panel of private consultants and administrators At the beginning of the semester, all teachers, school staff and paraprofessionals at Mitchell High School in the city of Colorado Springs were summarily dismissed as of the end of this school year and informed that they would have to reapply for their jobs for 2021-22. With the support of the local unions, every educational employee was told to either seek employment elsewhere or compete against others to secure a new contract at Mitchell.
Veteran and new educators lost their jobs at Mitchell, a high-poverty school with many students coming from first-generation immigrant families. The claim made by the school district that this was done out of concern for the children because of their low college admission test scores is a lie.
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
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.