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Training and placement timeline for special education staff

2:29:22

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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.

2:30:39

How long is the mentoring for?

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.

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.

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