In front of a crowd of about 130 that included special education teachers, paraprofessionals, parents and students, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit board voted to eliminate 20.4 positions from its special education staff.
The cuts made at the Wednesday meeting represent furloughs. They are in addition to 11.4 positions eliminated last month, largely through attrition. The cuts take effect in the 2015-16 school year.
The cuts come from the staffs of the three special education centers the AIU operates — Sunrise in Monroeville, Mon Valley in Jefferson Hills and Pathfinder in Bethel Park — and among the staff of professionals who serve the 42 suburban school districts in Allegheny County.
The crowd, which earlier picketed outside the AIU headquarters in Homestead, would not let AIU executive director Linda Hippert speak during the meeting when she started to say “this is very difficult for us... .” They yelled over her comments until she quieted.
After the meeting, Mrs. Hippert said the reductions were necessary because demand for special education services is down among the 42 school districts the AIU serves. She also said the special education program has a $6 million deficit, mainly attributed to districts that have used the services but have not paid their bills.
That deficit may grow as the AIU has discovered and is still tallying the amounts for districts that have used services in the past and mistakenly not been invoiced by the AIU. That issue is being explored in an audit by the firm Schneider Downs, which was hired in March.
The crowd became frustrated when the board limited public comments to 15 minutes before their action and 15 minutes at the end of the meeting. That meant only a fraction of the crowd was able to speak.
Those who did speak mentioned their fears that students would not be adequately served with a smaller staff. Christine Knepshield of West Deer said her granddaughter who attends Sunrise school has aggressive behavior that the staff there is able to control.
“I don’t know if they cut back on the staff if they will be able to control the children,” Ms. Knepshield said.
Special needs student Denise Smith cried when AIU board vice president Joyce Snell refused to let her speak before the vote because the 15-minute public speaking session was up just before it was her turn to talk.
When she was permitted to speak at the end of the meeting after the vote, she asked the board: “Why would you cut these positions? Do you want us to live on the streets?”
Among the positions eliminated were vocational and life skills support teachers, along with travel instructors, behavior specialists, an autism support teacher and two supervisors.
In a related matter, the board hired Nanci Sullivan as the assistant executive director of special education and support services at a salary of $135,000. She was previously director of pupil personnel at South Fayette School District.
Mary Niederberger: mniederberger@post-gazette.com.
First Published: May 28, 2015, 12:51 a.m.
Updated: May 28, 2015, 3:36 a.m.
