By Derrick ForsytheRecord Staff WriterAn increase in enrollment prompted the Warren County R-III School District to add two new teaching positions for the 2015-16 school year.The board last Thursday approved the addition of a fourth-grade teacher as well as a middle school special education instructor after it was realized the standing faculty count would not be sufficient enough to meet the needs of a growing number of students.The district saw an increase of 60 students over last year, pushing the enrollment to an all-time high of 3,270 students.Rebecca Boone Elementary saw the majority of that increase, spiking its fourth-grade numbers. In order to stay within compliance of its 27 students per classroom quota, the district decided to create another fourth-grade class. As it stood, class sizes would have an average of 29 students.“We have board policies that set different minimums, and we use the standards set by DESE, which are different for each level, K-2, 3-4 and so on,” said Superintendent Dr. Jim Chandler. “We were sitting at 29.3, so we had to make that change.”Director of Special Education Shanna Weber explained to board members that without adding another special education teacher at Black Hawk Middle School, the district’s at-risk children would be underserved.Weber presented several figures, including an imbalance in both the seventh and eighth grades when it comes to ratio of special education students in relation to regular education students.Chandler says there hasn’t necessarily been an increase in special education students, but the change has been in how the students are categorized based upon their learning abilities.“It’s related more to the way they identify certain disabilities, and it’s actually a growing need across the state,” said Chandler.The average eighth-grade language arts class would have 16 special education students compared to just nine regular education students. The seventh-grade special math class would have 18 special education students alone.Eighth-grade special language arts would have 11 students not being served with resource language arts, and eighth-grade special reading would have nine students not receiving services in reading.“Without this position, we would need to amend IEPs to reflect our schedule, not what the students need,” said Weber. “This is not best practice for student success and focuses on adult needs rather than student focused needs.”Weber says the school considered two other options, including not providing CT or resource for social studies or science — which are high-stakes tested areas and dissolving core plus, which provided additional support for students with special needs who struggled on core content.She says one more special education teacher wouldn’t completely serve the needs, but it’s a step closer. Science is a category used for testing assessment. In the most recent data, Black Hawk received zero out of an available four points in that area.“Even with one additional FTE, we are not able to provide assistance in science for students with special needs,” said Weber. “This would require a second additional FTE.”The new members of the Warrenton High School staff for the 2015-16 school year are pictured, front row, from left, Christina Zibart, Shayla Hanneke, Kylie Handyside and Sonia Jansen. Second row, Liz Koper, Kate Hermann, Jamie Perry, Kelly Anderson, Katherine Wujcik and Kristen McDowell. Third row, Erick Jameson, Ryan Cross, Jeff Smith, Jacob Walton, Steve Henderson and Ken Holstine. Derrick Forsythe photo.
