Prince George’s County Public Schools had the highest number of special education teacher vacancies in the state during the 2023-2024 school year, according to Maryland State Department of Education data.

During that school year, PGCPS had about 240 special education staffing vacancies — more than double the number of vacancies than the next-highest school district. That vacancy data and an increase in complaints about the school district’s special education services led the department to put PGCPS under corrective action.

PGCPS serves about 133,000 students total and is the second-largest school system in the state. Baltimore City Public Schools followed with 105 vacancies. The state’s largest school district, Montgomery County, had about 90 vacancies for special education staff positions.

The state education department can put school systems under corrective action if it finds that a school district violates a state or federal regulation. School districts are then required to address their violations to prevent a recurrence in the future.

While the school district has a plan to improve its special education services, president of the Prince George’s County Educators’ Association Donna Christy said she is frustrated the school system did not do more to address its shortcomings before getting to this point.

“The director of special education has had years, not months, years to address the special education staffing crisis,” Christy said at the Sept. 25 education board meeting. “She has known that vacancies were worsening and she has done nothing meaningful to prevent them.”

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Federal and state laws require public schools to provide free and suitable education for all students with disabilities through age 21. These services are provided through individualized education programs.

PGCPS serves about 17,000 students with individualized education programs, PGCPS’s associate superintendent for special education Trinell Bowman said during an education board meeting on Aug. 21.

Michele Clarke, a special education teacher at Kenmoor Early Childhood Center who spoke at the Sept. 25 board meeting, told The Diamondback that the high number of vacancies has increased case loads for special educators, making her job more stressful.

“There’s a lot of paperwork with special education, so the larger your caseload gets, the harder it is to manage,” Clarke said.

During the 2024-2025 school year, the Maryland education department received 131 complaints about PGCPS’s special education services, which was a 65 percent increase in complaints from the previous year. Despite the increase, Bowman stressed that 35 of last year’s complaints were deemed not to be violations.

The most common complaints were about individualized education programs not being implemented properly because of the staff vacancies and that the school system did not fill out program documents in a timely manner, according to Bowman’s presentation.

“I want you to know that our team sees this as an opportunity to get better and to continue the trajectory of success that we have set out with our special and strategic plan,” Bowman said.

As part of the plan, Bowman said school districts will receive a guide to help ensure they comply with program timelines. Additionally, principals will need to fill out monthly checklist to ensure their schools adhere to special education guidelines.

The district also plans to provide additional training and on-the-ground support to schools, Bowman said.

To fill staffing vacancies, the county is outsourcing employees from other agencies. But contracts come with additional fees for the school system and means these jobs will not be represented by the teachers’ labor union.

Clarke said she is concerned whether outsourcing will bring in qualified staff.

“Why aren’t they working in a school system where your benefits and pay would probably be better than working for a contractor?” Clarke said. “I’m wondering how qualified they would be.”

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Christy said she wishes the school system found ways to attract more special educators while teachers were negotiating their contract. The school system came to a tentative agreement with the union in July before finalizing the contract in September.

The fact that that the school system was under corrective action at the time of the negotiations was not public information, Christy said.

PGCPS wrote in a statement to The Diamondback on Monday that members of the current administration “cannot confirm or deny” if this was disclosed to PGCEA because this phase of contract negotiations occurred under the administration of previous superintendent Millard House II.

Christy said the lack of transparency from House’s administration led PGCEA members to conduct their vote of no confidence in June.

“They could have brought to the negotiations table that they had this issue that they needed to address with some urgency,” Christy said. “But they didn’t do that.”

Despite Clarke’s concerns about outsourcing, she said this year was the first time since before the COVID-19 pandemic that her school’s pre-K classes have been fully staffed.

“It seems as if they do have a better grasp on hiring people this school year than they did last year or the last couple years,” Clarke said. “I hope this is a positive trend that will continue because we need the right people doing the right job.”