Meeting Time:
September 09, 2025 at 6:15pm PDT
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Families of Montclair’s ESN classroom are deeply concerned: this is the second consecutive school year without a permanent teacher. This reflects a serious crisis in teacher recruitment and retention. Measure G1 was created to support and retain educators, particularly in equity-impacted schools. Yet in our ESN classrooms, there are no permanent teachers to retain at all.
We call on the Commission to bring this issue to the Board of Education and to ensure that G1 oversight addresses the urgent need to recruit, support, and retain qualified special education teachers.
We recognize that OUSD plans to use Measure G1 surplus funds for central teacher training to improve retention. But families of ESN classrooms need the Commission to focus on a deeper issue: year after year, our children’s classrooms are staffed by interns or under-credentialed educators who leave after one year.
This pattern exists because ESN classrooms lack the training, support, and retention structures needed for the most vulnerable populations. Students with disabilities deserve stability, not a revolving door of teachers and paras.
Measure G1 was created to attract and retain school-site educators. For ESN classrooms, the problem is not only vacancies — it is ongoing turnover because staff are not supported or trained to stay. We urge the Commission to analyze and report on this issue in your oversight role and recommend that G1 surplus funds prioritize retention strategies for special education staff, not just general teacher training.