The financially strained Cleveland school district may be forced to hire possibly hundreds of special education teachers in order to comply with a union contract, according to a recent story in The Plain Dealer.
The local teachers’ contract requires that inclusion classrooms, which educate students with and without disabilities, have a general education teacher and a special education teacher present full time, an arbitrator ruled last month. The schools often end up sending special education students to special rooms for extra help. The decision resolved a complaint filed by a 3rd grade general education teacher, the story in the Cleveland newspaper said.
Teachers’ union officials told The Plain Dealer that the ruling could mean that the schools must hire up to six special education teachers per school. District and union officials are currently in talks on how to comply with the decision, the story said.
