Fifteen full-time employees in the Haddonfield School District will not be hired back for the 2012–13 school year, as the board of education elected to not renew the contracts of the applied behavioral analysis therapists.
The district didn’t officially vote on anything at the meeting, as non-renewals of employees don’t have to be voted on.
Based on the recommendation of Bonni Rubin-Sugarman, director of special education in the district, the board will investigate outsourcing the duties of the ABA therapists to Bancroft.
The ABA therapists work closely with special education students in the district in and out of the classroom, working with the students to integrate them into a class or to help them throughout the day.
She recommended outsourcing the services to Bancroft, which cost the district about $657,236 a year, as opposed to the current program costs of $752,923. This would result in a yearly savings of a little more than $95,680, she said.
“The cost savings is a benefit, but not the motivation to make this move,” she said.
Haddonfield is looking at a contract with Bancroft that would bring in 15 trained and qualified ABA therapists to work with the children, with designated ABA trained “floater substitutes” to ensure the continuation of service the program lacks right now, she said. Also, Bancroft would provide individual functional behavioral assessments and behavioral intervention plans for the students, completing these evaluations and attend meetings at no extra cost.
The primary motivation for the change, Rubin-Sugarman said, is a long-standing problem with the program providing “continuity of service.” According to Rubin-Sugarman, as of May 1, eight of the 15 therapists have been absent an average of 8.1 days, well over the employee average in the district.
More than half of the ABA therapists have already exceeded the district yearly average absence rate, she said, and two therapists resigned during the school year with little notice, causing disruption in service.
Currently, the district does not have ABA trained substitute coverage, she said. When a therapist is out, a regular substitute is brought in to replace them for the day. This is not a trained ABA therapist, she said, so the remaining ABA therapists have to be moved around to different students during the day.
Katie Nosti, an ABA therapist in the district, defended her fellow employees and tearfully recited a speech to the board, imploring them not to outsource ABA services.
“What is at stake is the ongoing progress of these children,” she said. “We’ve worked as a team with teachers and therapists for the common good of these children.”
She said it would be a mistake to not renew the contracts of the “qualified, experienced, and dedicated staff” to just funding in the district.
Will Potts, the father of a child who utilizes one of the ABA therapists, defended the work the therapists do for his son.
“As a parent of a child that has been with the program since the beginning, I want to thank the ABAs for all they’ve done for my child,” he said with tears in his eyes.
Haddonfield Education Association President Sharon Stokes suggested the district come up with a plan to bring in experienced ABA-trained substitutes to help with the problem.
She also warned against outsourcing the service to Bancroft.
The Moorestown School District recently broke off the same type of contract for ABA services with Bancroft, Stokes said, for a litany of reasons.
A colleague in the district relayed to Stokes that the Bancroft ABA therapists were “inexperienced” and “didn’t cooperate with teachers in class.”
The board did not vote on a contract with Bancroft, but BOE President Steve Weinstein said it would be decided at the next meeting. He did, however, defend the recommendation of Rubin-Sugerman and said the problems with the program have been long standing in the district.
