Kaneland school board honorably dismisses six paraprofessionals, citing changing needs in district

The Kaneland District 302 School Board voted to lay off six paraprofessional staff during Monday night’s board meeting.

Three additional paraprofessional staff were reduced from full-time to part-time employees in response to changing IEP (individualized educational plans for students who need specialized services) needs, according to meeting documents.

“Just like we do with our minimum staffing plan process, the administration looks at the variety of needs of our students, and with regard to classified staff, there is typically one group, our paraprofessional group, that are highly dependent on IEP needs,” Director of Human Resources Chris Adkins said. “After auditing all of that this year, there is need for a reduction in force due to students not needing as much adult support and adult assistance.”

Adkins said all of the employees who were laid off have recall rights for up to one year.

“Those people affected by this reduction of force would have the legal right to that position before it even gets posted,” he said.

According to meeting documents, staff seniority plays a roll in which staff are laid off.

“Of those nine people, some of them just graduated with teaching degrees and are looking for their own classroom in the fall, so we absolutely want to help with those people,” Adkins said.

He said the need for paraprofessional staff is determined in the spring.

“Annually, we go through a process to determine staff for the coming year,” Adkins said. “We start with the certified staff in March and then we move on to the classified staff in April.

“I want to take a quick moment to remind the board that this is an honorable reduction,” Adkins said. “The people affected and involved are terrific employees.”

The board also considered potential changes to the 2023-24 student handbook.

“Last year was our first year that we combined our handbooks from three separate handbooks to one EC-12 handbook,” Superintendent Todd Leden said.

Potential changes to the handbook include banning students from bartering goods on school property and ordering food to schools through apps such as Uber Eats and Door Dash, according to meeting documents.

Documents also said students may be allowed daylong absences for civic events.

Leden said final approval on the additions will be made during the next board meeting, which is April 24.