OSCEOLA COUNTY, Fla. — The Osceola County teachers’ union is warning about the district-wide rollout of changes to special education.
For the 2025-2026 school year, the Osceola County School District consolidated special needs, classrooms into designated hub schools and reintroduced some students with special needs to general education settings.
The move sparked protests last year, and one month in, the Osceola County Education Association says more training and help for teachers is needed.
The association says teachers are struggling in classrooms filled with students with more intense needs.
“You’ve created a crisis situation, and whatever the intention was, the reality is it is not healthy right now,” said Emily Grintz, the Instructional Vice President for the Osceola County Education Association.
The association says teachers need more support staff to meet the needs of students with disabilities and document the progress of students with Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). They also claim teachers have not received adequate training ahead of the changes.
“Our teachers are quitting. Our ESE support staff are quitting. People do not come to work in this district to be hurt. They don’t want to be hit, slapped, kicked, and bit, and that is what is happening on a daily basis,” said OCEA president Janet Moody.
The Osceola County Education Association has asked the district to reconvene a special needs task force, provide additional teacher training, and immediately start tracking data points related to the changes, such as resignations.
Meanwhile, some parents of special needs children worry their students are falling behind because of a lack of adequate support.
Special education advocate Daryl Greenwood works with about 100 special needs students across the district.
Since the changes were announced, Greenwood said she has been in back-to-back meetings with parents and school officials to ensure her students’ needs are met.
She says one month in, that’s not happening for several of her students who are also now experiencing behavioral issues because of the changes.
“We are early into the school year, but at the same time, it has never been this chaotic,” said Greenwood, “We’re seeing far more behavior issues because of the challenges of the change in placement, not only the lack of staff support.”
During Tuesday’s school board meeting, Osceola County Schools Superintendent Mark Shanoff addressed the concerns.
“When we’re talking about a school district the size of Osceola County, the idea of operationalizing change takes time,” said Shanoff, “There is going to be a lot of problem-solving that happens along the way.”
The district has stated that changes were needed, in part, to meet state standards for inclusivity and ensure students are learning in what is known as “the least restrictive environment.”
According to the district, the state target for students in separate Special Education classrooms is 12.7 percent. But as of January 2025, 21.4 percent of the district’s special needs students were being served in a separate class setting.
The superintendent said the move was also intended to maximize special needs resources.
“We couldn’t fill the classrooms when we tried to do this at every school. So, what did we try to do. We tried to hub the self-contained students in the name of providing at least more support,” said Shanoff.
Shanoff also stated that special needs students in separate classrooms were underperforming before the changes.
Shanoff said the district worked hard to hire more support staff and special education specialists.
“I’m in it to make sure these students our successful. Our teachers, we hear you. We know you need help,” said Shanoff.
On Wednesday, Channel 9 asked the district whether it was tracking any metrics related to the success of the changes and whether it was considering reconvening the special education task force.
Channel 9 did not hear back before news time.
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