Steamboat Springs School District officials reiterated Wednesday that the district is meeting the requirements set out in individual student education plans despite its understaffing.

“I review every IEP and every document submitted by our district, making sure we are in compliance,” said Anne-Marie Williams, director of exceptional student services for the district.

“I’m confident to say that we all follow up on IEPs, and if we don’t, hopefully a parent or affected person could approach the case manager and talk about it,” he said. she continued.

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Parents of special education students questioned whether these agreements were being honored, especially at Steamboat Springs High School where the district lost several positions.

Three special education teachers recently resigned, and the district lost the equivalent of six and a half special education paraprofessionals, four and a half of them in high school.

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District human resources manager Katie Jacobs said districtwide they are 95% staffed with the equivalent of 20 full-time positions currently unfilled. At the start of the year, that number was over 30. The district has about 400 employees, not including coaches and substitutes.

“We have 95% staff, which I think is a pretty good place to be right now,” Jacobs said. “I know we have positions that are hard to find right now, and we are working in a variety of ways to fill them. “

Jacobs said there are 14 other people being recruited to replace them, meaning they may have applied or been interviewed, but can wait for a background check or acquire the appropriate licenses.

Williams said that in addition to the special education staff they have, the district uses building interventionists and other special service providers to help when needed.

“We want to make sure that we follow all legal guidelines within special education and that we also offer quality programs to all of our students,” said Williams.

Kelly Latterman, a board member, said she learned at the Colorado School Boards Association conference that many districts are struggling to hire custodians, bus drivers, paraprofessionals and replacements.

“We are all competing for a similar pool of people who are limited in these positions,” said Latterman, adding that in Crested Butte even the bus service was suspended due to a lack of drivers.

The Steamboat School District actually has one of the highest rates of pay for teachers in the state and is generally the highest paid district in Northwest Colorado. Still, Latterman said the board will need to pay close attention to pay scales when reviewing the budget this spring.

“I don’t think this problem is going to go away next year,” Latterman said.

Latterman said she didn’t want future boards to face an even bigger problem, and she stressed they needed to start discussions about establishing the district of its own housing for the city. labor force now.

Ensuring adequate staffing throughout the district was a popular topic during the listening sessions held as part of the district master planning process.

Superintendent Brad Meeks said he felt the fact that the district is 95% staffed is a sign that their recruiting methods are working as they are required to have multiple positions open at any given time with such staff. important.

A parent joined Wednesday’s meeting and suggested the district should involve parents in some sort of committee that could help with hiring. Board members indicated that this was an idea they would consider and would have seen in other districts, although this committee would have no real hiring authority.

“I don’t think we necessarily want parents to act as our representatives,” Meeks said. “But if it’s just a matter of brainstorming and seeing how that fits into our legal obligations as we pursue staffing, I think we can definitely talk about some of these things.”

To reach Dylan Anderson, call 970-871-4247 or email [email protected]