Any advice for meeting student service minutes due to lack of staffing shortage and amending minutes at annuals?

Hi all,

I'm a mild and moderate special education teacher at a new elementary school this year for two grades.

I have a caseload of 18 and one shared with another teacher, but I'm only servicing the 19th one for minutes.

There was no transition planning when they came from the last school and I took the students cases from my co-worker.

I have several issues:

1. So many restrictions to when I can pull-out. Can't take during specials, reading intervention, and then teachers are doing extra recess and pulling then makes the kids upset and tell parents.

2. I have one student who came in and had 200 social observation minutes and couldn't get staff to keep up with watching the student during recess and lunch times. He started the school off in a new home environment and doesn't need that social observation more and we decided not to move up his annual yet.

3. I have one student whose at grade level and is just bored in my small groups, I haven't had time to move up his annual. I have another at grade level as well and I don't have enough staff to get him push-in support to meet all his minutes.

4. My para is struggling because we have a student with an ID disablity and modifications in small group who is very emotional and can get violent when he's emotional. The whole group is not learning. Admin has been told time after time it's causing issues and my mental health team is trying to support the student with ID disability.

5. The district has made it really dfficult to move kids into another LRE. They have no clear path and all the direction I get is increase service hours, which they know we don't have. Even a student in LRE 302 can't get more and it's a struggle to get him enough hours and my co-worker may get pety and deny me to use her para to meet his minutes.

6. Speaking of my co-worker, I am re-writing all her IEPs because they weren't compliant and not legally defendable.

7. I'm in an alt licensure program and the school agreed to giving me a mentor. One staff is providing that, but my co-worker has not and she now doesn't want to mentor me. I'd be fine with that!

8. Some of my students need service minutes reduced, so I can remain in compliance and I think some of them don't need what their minutes are written as. All my students have push-in and pull-out. No reason why they get double. I'm really nervous about having these meetings. My university job coach and admin offered to sit on some of them and have said parents at this school are very supportive and understanding. I just hope it's true because this is the first time a special education teacher is changing minutes. My students will be moving into middle school next year and I'm wondering if I should work with my co-worker to amend those minutes to help her be in compliance, but she hasn't brought up to me. Next year we will be either getting a new teacher and losing a para or a new para, to support the growth of more students.

Admin did agree I could move up one student's IEP because my co-worker last year increased his minutes NOT on academic need, but behavior need which isn't in his plan! I have students with less minutes than him and need more academic support.

My university for the alternate licensure program has suggested I try to stick it, reach out to union, and all they can do is work on getting the mentorship straightened out.

I feel like the district is trying to support me to get compliance though because transitional planning meets are in place from the transfer school, so service minutes can reflect what we can provide.

I did have a transfer student come in and told the registrar then admin I have only class I'm in to service his minutes, please put him there. Admin snapped and said no, but then talked to the psych and came back saying sorry yes, it will happen.

So I feel they like they want to work with me to get things done. My para is a rockstar. It's her second year and even though my preps are taken up by trying to address people who don't like my schedule or how I operate, it's just they don't understand SpEd and "IEPS are legal documents".