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http://www.masslive.com/springfield/republican/index.ssf?/base/news-0/1124437590219120.xml&coll=1
BOSTON - At the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow, turnover is so high that about about half the licensed staff was hired in the past three years.
Now, about three weeks before the school opens, Executive Director Louis E. Abbate is still struggling to hire a speech and language pathologist and an early childhood teacher. Abbate said the school's average salary for a teacher is $35,000 and starting salaries for teachers are far below the public schools.
"The problem is finding a teacher of the deaf - period, licensed in any state," said Abbate, 55, whose school includes 65 students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Hampered by high turnover of staff and low salaries, private schools for disabled students, including Willie Ross, are working together to prompt improvements. Leaders of an association of private schools are launching a campaign on Beacon Hill to increase their tuition to raise money for retaining teachers by hiking their salaries and for helping students by improving services.
The Massachusetts Association of Chapter 766 Approved Private Schools includes 155 day and residential private schools that educate and treat about 6,400 severely disabled students. Public schools pay for 70 percent of the tuitions of the private schools such as the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow, Brightside in West Springfield, the Curtis Blake Day School in Springfield and the Lake Grove Maple Valley School in Wendell. It could be a tough sell to hike the tuitions at the private schools.
When public schools send disabled students to a private school, the public schools pay about the first $30,000 in tuition. The state reimburses 75 percent of the amount more than the estimated $30,000.
"We already are paying so much for tuitions," said Russell D. Johnston, administrator of special services for West Springfield public schools. "It can be a big burden on the town."
According to the state Department of Education, Chicopee schools sent 45 students to private day or residential schools last year; Greenfield, 8; Holyoke, 59; Northampton, 11; Palmer, 20; Springfield, 198 and West Springfield, 15.
Because turnover of teachers is rapid and pay is low compared to public schools, the private schools for the disabled are forced to hire a high percentage of teachers who aren't licensed in their fields, said James V. Major, executive director of the association of private schools. Libraries, computer networks, textbooks and science laboratories also are lagging at the private schools, Major said.
As a result, students at the private schools are being shortchanged, Major said.
BOSTON - At the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow, turnover is so high that about about half the licensed staff was hired in the past three years.
Now, about three weeks before the school opens, Executive Director Louis E. Abbate is still struggling to hire a speech and language pathologist and an early childhood teacher. Abbate said the school's average salary for a teacher is $35,000 and starting salaries for teachers are far below the public schools.
"The problem is finding a teacher of the deaf - period, licensed in any state," said Abbate, 55, whose school includes 65 students who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Hampered by high turnover of staff and low salaries, private schools for disabled students, including Willie Ross, are working together to prompt improvements. Leaders of an association of private schools are launching a campaign on Beacon Hill to increase their tuition to raise money for retaining teachers by hiking their salaries and for helping students by improving services.
The Massachusetts Association of Chapter 766 Approved Private Schools includes 155 day and residential private schools that educate and treat about 6,400 severely disabled students. Public schools pay for 70 percent of the tuitions of the private schools such as the Willie Ross School for the Deaf in Longmeadow, Brightside in West Springfield, the Curtis Blake Day School in Springfield and the Lake Grove Maple Valley School in Wendell. It could be a tough sell to hike the tuitions at the private schools.
When public schools send disabled students to a private school, the public schools pay about the first $30,000 in tuition. The state reimburses 75 percent of the amount more than the estimated $30,000.
"We already are paying so much for tuitions," said Russell D. Johnston, administrator of special services for West Springfield public schools. "It can be a big burden on the town."
According to the state Department of Education, Chicopee schools sent 45 students to private day or residential schools last year; Greenfield, 8; Holyoke, 59; Northampton, 11; Palmer, 20; Springfield, 198 and West Springfield, 15.
Because turnover of teachers is rapid and pay is low compared to public schools, the private schools for the disabled are forced to hire a high percentage of teachers who aren't licensed in their fields, said James V. Major, executive director of the association of private schools. Libraries, computer networks, textbooks and science laboratories also are lagging at the private schools, Major said.
As a result, students at the private schools are being shortchanged, Major said.