once again rang the alarm<\/a> about the working conditions ASD teachers face.<\/p>\n \u201cI spoke about these things at the beginning of last school year, and we\u2019re in the same spot that we were in at that time.”<\/p>\n
Leslie Franklin, AEA President<\/p>\n
She said special education teachers are getting minimal support in classrooms that serve students with the highest needs.<\/p>\n
Without citing a specific school, Franklin also said displaced students and staff are experiencing \u201cmajor disruptions to learning.\u201d<\/p>\n
Teachers also are lacking access to classroom supplies and technology, she said. Additionally, schools are experiencing \u201congoing shortages\u201d of bathroom supplies, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI spoke about these things at the beginning of last school year, and we\u2019re in the same spot that we were in at that time,\u201d Franklin said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFocus on what needs to be done so we can get better together,\u201d she told the school board and district administration.<\/p>\n
District responds, says staffing is strong<\/p>\n
Herman James, ASD\u2019s chief of talent management and labor relations, told LehighValleyNews.com after Thursday\u2019s meeting that he plans to speak with Franklin to learn more about the specific concerns, rather than the \u201cgeneral\u201d list Franklin shared.<\/p>\n
\u201cRight now, all we know is what she stated in the meeting,\u201d James said. \u201cIt was just a quick \u2026 itemization of concerns.<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard school supplies, I heard staffing, I heard all kinds of things.”<\/p>\n
Herman James, ASD\u2019s chief of talent management and labor relations<\/p>\n
\u201cI heard school supplies, I heard staffing, I heard all kinds of things,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
James said he wants to know to what Franklin is referring with her claims of a staffing shortage.<\/p>\n
\u201cNot that we have all positions filled, we still have a few vacancies,” he said. “But certainly in those vacancies we have substitutes who are covering those vacancies.”<\/p>\n
James said 98% of classroom teacher positions are filled across the district. He said ASD welcomed 44 new teachers and 36 paraprofessionals with the approval of Thursday\u2019s personnel report.<\/p>\n
According to ASD\u2019s job listings, there are 94 teacher vacancies listed across the district\u2019s 24 elementary, middle and high schools. <\/p>\n
The job board shows the listings were last updated as of Thursday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ALLENTOWN, Pa. \u2014 Allentown School District teachers are \u201cexhausted and overwhelmed\u201d just a month into the school year,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1685,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[119,1633,121,120,1634,719,1635,1631,1632,1636,1637,1638],"class_list":["post-1684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-allentown","tag-allentown","tag-allentown-education-association-president-leslie-franklin","tag-allentown-headlines","tag-allentown-news","tag-allentown-school-board-meeting","tag-allentown-school-district","tag-allentown-schools","tag-asd-news","tag-asd-staffing-shortages","tag-does-allentown-school-district-have-a-staffing-shortage","tag-leslie-franklin-allentown","tag-staffing-shortages-allentown-schools"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1684"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1684\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}