JAY — The Board of Directors of Local Schools Unit 73 voted unanimously Thursday night to hire additional special education teachers for grades 7-12.

“The middle school and high school numbers are very worrying,” said Special Services Director Sherry Parker. Even so, staff express feelings of being overwhelmed and drowning in not having enough time in the day.”

Teams in each building do their best to move students around and even out the case load, Parker said. I can,” she said. “We came earlier this year and the caseload numbers are 25 to 30 in resource rooms and 16 to 19 in more intensive life skills and behavior programs.

“Anything over 15 in behavioral programs and life skills is very stressful because almost all academic programs are taught individually to students in these rooms according to individualized education plans.”

The Maine Unified Special Education Regulations outline the permitted student-teacher ratios as follows:

• 10-14 years old, 8 students to 1 teacher

• 15-20 years old, 10 students to 1 teacher

• The Education Technician allows 5 additional students to be added to the classroom.

Some teachers at both schools exceed the size of these groups due to identified student needs, Parker said. Of her 381 students in special education, 223 or she said 58.5 are in middle and high school, she said.

“Using current numbers and looking at projections for next year, middle school has 33 students advancing and 42 going into the next sixth grade,” Parker said. By 2023, 119 special education students will be in middle school and 127 special education students will be in high school. There are 246 students total, or about 65 percent of all special education students in the district, she added.

In the monthly report Parker submitted earlier in the conference, she said she had 33 students in the referral process, an increase of 16 since the beginning of the school year.

Current Special Education Number:

• The number of primary school students is 74, a decrease of 4

• The number of primary school students is 84, an increase of 7

• Middle school student numbers increased by 9 to 110

• 113 high school students, an increase of 4

Parker said that junior high schools have the position of Educational Technician III, elementary schools have the positions of Educational Technician I and Educational Technician II, and elementary schools have the position of Educational Technician III.

Special education teachers are advertised as being accredited for grades 7 through 12, Parker said. Once hired, she noted, the middle and high school architectural coordinators come together to figure out how to get the most out of their teachers.

Jay’s chairman, Robert Staples, said he spent his first four years teaching special education. He pointed out that with so many students, the teacher was trying to keep his head above the water.

“It’s not safe,” Staples said. “This request is absolutely necessary.”

Jay Director Joel Pike asked how the position would be funded.

Superintendent Scott Albert said there is a local entitlement rollover and funds are being put into the emergency fund each year. “We can find it,” he added.

“The state needs to take over this issue,” said superintendent Joel Pike. Hmm.”

Vice Chair Robin Beck asked if we had the budget for two special education teachers.

“If you need it, I’ll find it,” said Albert.

Parker said he had contacted several previous applicants, but had not heard back from them.

Early in the meeting, Livermore Falls community member John Benedetto asked if there was any discussion about the paper mill in Jay’s closure and how it would affect the budget.

Albert said the information is being collected for use in the budget process. He said he reached out to the state school board’s Pender He Makin to see what he could do in towns in the three districts.

Students from Jay, Livermore and Livermore Falls attend school in Spruce Mountain.

Phoebe Pike, Principal of Livermore Falls, noted that special education issues are raising budget concerns. It will pay off in the long run. If we don’t support them, who will?”

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