November 8, 2019

Dear Parents and Guardians,

We are writing to let you know that we are experiencing a shortage of applicants for special education paraprofessional roles in your child’s grade-level cluster this year. This shortage has impacted the consistent delivery of in-class supports per your student’s IEP. Although the CCS administration and Human Resources department continue to collaborate around hiring and finding substitutes, the positions remain unfilled by hired staff. Please note that pull-out services and related services (such as speech, OT, or counseling) have been provided as expected since the beginning of the year, and that your child’s special education liaison has been working hard to fill the gaps in in-class support to the extent possible.

The special education team working with your student will continue to monitor progress to prevent regression of skills. We will be using the data from the first quarter IEP progress reports and report cards, which will be issued on November 22, to inform what interventions and/or compensatory services would be appropriate. In the meantime, we are continuing to place a priority on obtaining daily substitute paraprofessionals, and interviewing all applicants speedily. We hope to have good news that someone has been permanently hired in the very near future.

Please feel free to contact either of us if we can answer any questions as this process is ongoing. Thank you in

advance for your patience as we work to fully serve each of your students’ educational needs this year.