Q&A
Training and placement timeline for special education staff
2:29:22
ยท
134 sec
Council Member Rita Joseph asked about the training and placement timeline for special education staff. Suzanne Sanchez from the DOE provided the following information:
- The hiring process for related service providers takes approximately 3 to 4 weeks from start to finish
- New occupational therapists and physical therapists are assigned mentors who support their clinical work
- Speech teachers have a robust training program
- All providers receive training from clinical supervisors on working with children with disabilities in school settings
- Mentoring for OTs and PTs lasts a minimum of one year, with the possibility of extension if needed
For paraprofessionals:
- Once fingerprinted and cleared, they can start work the next day
- Pre-employment training is considered sufficient to begin work
- Additional specific training for students is conducted at the school level
- New hires are registered in the sub central system and may be called for jobs in their neighborhoods
Rita Joseph
2:29:22
Alright.
2:29:25
And how long does it take we talked about that earlier.
2:29:27
How about how long does it take for to get trained to be a para then placed with special education, OT, PT, speech therapists, counselors, social work, and school psychologists?
2:29:35
Speech therapists, counselors, social work, and school psychologists.
Suzanne Sanchez
2:29:45
For our related service providers, the the hiring length from start to finish is approximately anywhere from 3 to 4 weeks.
2:29:53
There's some of that is dependent on the applicant themselves.
2:29:57
There's a number of documents they have to complete, and sometimes we're reminding them to get those in, and then they are onboarded by their clinical supervisor of OT, PT, or speech.
2:30:10
All of our OTs and PTs who are new to the system are assigned a mentor, a mentor therapist who goes out and supports their hands on clinical work.
2:30:19
Our speech teachers have also a very robust training program, and this is regardless of whether the provider works in district 75 or district 1 through 32 or preschool.
2:30:31
They're, they are trained by their clinical supervisors on how to work with children with disabilities in the school setting.
Rita Joseph
2:30:39
How long is the mentoring for?
Suzanne Sanchez
2:30:41
The mentoring is at minimum a year for our OTs and PTs.
2:30:44
Should someone either want or benefit from additional mentoring, that will go on.
UNKNOWN
2:30:54
Thank you.
2:30:55
So for the paraprofessionals, once they go through the process and are fingerprinted and cleared, they receive an email and they are ready to go the next day.
2:31:04
So we're considering the training that they do pre preschool or preemployment to be enough to get them started.
2:31:11
Anything that's needed at the school level, specifically for a student, is conducted at the school level.
2:31:17
We they are eligible to work right after they get staffed.
2:31:21
They get an email to register for our sub central system, so they will start getting calls.
2:31:26
Our team, we have a team of people that will actually call the new folks and put them into jobs that they may have in their neighborhoods and things like that.