Cutting Costs Leaves Children Vulnerable

• Lack of instructional aides increases demands on classroom teachers who already work above and beyond contract expectations.
• SPED (Special Education) aides are pulled out of classrooms to run copies or serve lunch duty due to a lack of office clerical personnel and instructional aides.
• Huge class sizes are detrimental to inclusive practices; children with disabilities (particularly EBD [Emotional Behavioral Disorder] and autism) are completely overwhelmed  in regular education classrooms for lunch, recess, resources, etc.
• To save money, schools are not hiring substitute teachers at times, but instead pull resource teachers and/or guidance counselors to teach; in some cases subs are not hired for SPED aides, leaving classrooms teachers in a very tough position.
• Schools are freezing: cutting costs by not using heat/air conditioning (or only during certain times of the day) has forced teachers and children to have to wear winter coats indoors.  This does not create an environment very conducive to learning.

~Kacie Spellman
Teacher, Ecoff Elementary School