The Salem Grade School Board Thursday night agreed to add an additional special education teacher at Franklin Park School after being told there was no way to stay with a ‘legal’ number of students per classroom without it. An additional special ed teacher was added at Hawthorn this school year due to increasing numbers. The district also continues to maintain one special education teacher for each grade.
Superintendent Dr. Leslie Foppe says the State Board of Education limits the number of students in a special education classroom to ten or up to 13 if there is an aide and a teacher. She notes at Franklin Park next year every grade is above that level with 24 special students in fourth grade, 16 in fifth grade, 14 in sixth grade, 13 in seventh grade, and 19 in eighth grade.
She notes not every student spends all day in the special ed classroom.
“Some of the kids are fulltime, but we have kids that are in part of the day. It depends on their individual education play. So if they have an IEP that states they are in there all day we have to figure out what room they will be in so we can accommodate them and keep that number down so it’s legal. If they have minutes they go in for help, then we will make sure they will go into a room where the numbers are where they have to be and that is 13.”
Foppe says they can find a room for the new teacher. Some teachers may still have to be paid to give up their planning period to handle all the students.
Foppe notes while the school district’s overall number of students has fallen from over 1,000 when she started, it is down to 940 or 950 while the special ed population has continued to grow. She says the end result could be the student population no longer supporting five sections at every grade level.
“Population is changing and we must teach to meet the needs of our students. We can’t keep hiring special ed teachers, we have no space. So it may get to a point where we get through this pattern where if a teacher retires we don’t replace them.”
Foppe says the increase in special students is being accelerated by 90 percent of the new students to the district coming in with an individual learning plan for special education.
Foppe isn’t sure why the increase is occurring. She reports some of the isolation from COVID-19 could be part of it. Foppe supports the Governor’s desire to increase early education, saying that could help better prepare students to enter kindergarten.
The board was told the Franklin Park Annual Food Drive to benefit the Salem Ministerial Alliance will begin Monday. Students will be out seeking donations from businesses and residents.
The board acted on a number of personnel issues.
- Katie Allen was hired as girls’ head varsity track coach
- Hannah Bowers was hired as a paraprofessional
- Robert Simmons was hired as night custodian
- Intent to retire letters were accepted from teachers Melissa Ramos and Nicole Rexilius at the end of the 2026-27 school year.
- Jamie Powless submitted a letter of resignation
