Lynn Schools seek teachers for autisic students

LYNN – The special education department in the Lynn Public Schools is hoping to hire two new teachers for its Creating Opportunities for Autistic Children (COACH) program in the coming months.
Special Education Director Cheryl Menino told the School Committee Wednesday night that the two new hires would be the first in a long line of requests to hire properly trained department employees to replace consultants from the May Center, who currently work with students in the city’s alternative programs.
The two new teachers would work as certified behavioral specialists in the COACH program, located in the Shoemaker School, and at the Fecteau-Leary and Washington schools, which house the city’s additional SPED programs.
While trained professionals from the May Center have been working part-time with the children in the SPED programs for some time, Menino said having full-time teachers on staff would benefit the students and their families because they can be there every day and keep a closer watch on behavioral changes.
May Center staff only visit the schools on certain days, and may miss some of the behavioral changes is certain students.
“In 2004 (when Menino took over the SPED department) we had a vision, we asked ?where do we want to be,'” she told the committee. “Right now the May Center sends in their own behavioral specialists and it is not only very tedious, but very time consuming work. They keep data, they do individual plans for the students. When you have an increase in numbers (of autistic children) like we do, you also have to increase the May Center support.”
Menino said the number of autistic students has risen from 24 in 2004 to 103 in 2008, reflecting the nationwide autism epidemic and a drastic increase in diagnosis by pediatricians.
To be eligible for the position, teachers must hold a master’s degree and complete five additional graduate level courses, several hours of fieldwork and pass an exam administered by the Board of Certified Behavioral Analysts. Menino said she has one teacher in the department that has already passed the certification and several who are working toward it.
By hiring two teachers from within the SPED department, it will open doors to re-hire two teachers on the department’s recall list, filled with teachers who were given pink slips during budget cuts last year.
In addition, the department will maintain its relationship with the May Center in other areas where specialists will continue to come in to the schools.
“We will still keep our contract with the May Center, it just won’t be as large,” she said. “They are there for us in terms of credibility in their many years of working with kids under this spectrum.”
Students in the COACH and alternative programs have varying levels of need, but the ultimate goal is to work with the students and their families to eventually return everyone to their district schools.
“What we are hoping is to get some of the kids back in to the mainstream neighborhood schools,” she said.
The School Committee agreed Wednesday to begin negotiating the positions with the Teacher’s Union, which would set the salary and hours for the position. Menino said she expects the specialists to serve in the classrooms, conduct staff training and do data analysis along with two 6-week summer programs.