Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Teacher Layoffs Tied to Special-Education Changes

MOUNT VERNON, N.Y. -- The Board of Education is laying off 19 teachers and five teaching assistants as part of a special-education change.

The layoffs mean that the district will have fewer classrooms staffed by two teachers.
Under the new approach, special-education teachers will only come into the classrooms that have a mix of nondisabled and special-education students for part of the day.

The Board of Education adopted resolutions authorizing the layoffs at a special meeting on Wednesday. The layoffs included three elementary teachers and 16 special-education teachers.
On Monday, schools spokeswoman Desiree Grand said that the district was following a model instituted by the Yonkers school district in the 2009-10 school year.

"Rather than having the special-education teacher with the students throughout the day, they are sharing special education teachers among several classrooms," said Jeff Yonkers, president of the Mount Vernon teachers union.

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