Staff Shortages and Mounting Pressures

Recently, Chapter Leader Mindy Karten Bornemann was invited to speak at the New York State Speech Language Licensure Board to discuss the UFT Teacher Center distance learning program in Speech Language Pathology with Western Kentucky University. She noted that the program has gained national recognition and has four cohorts with a fifth group beginning soon.
This program has addressed the shortage of chapter members who need Speech Language Pathology Masters Degrees. Bornemann and Virginia Hill, who created the program, brought it to UFT President Randi Weingarten, VP Carmen Alvarez and VP Aminda Gentile, who also directs the Teacher Center. Once the union approved it, the state and city education departments helped to fund the collaborative endeavor.

The UFT program has also brought more bilingual and multicultural speech therapists to our ranks, thanks to great speech coaches. Teacher Center coaches who assist our members are: Virginia Hill, Ed Sweeney, Juanita Dunbar and Angel Tapia.

This is one of the few programs in existence that supports working speech teachers so that they do not need to leave their DOE job in order to get their degree. Our distance learning program enables them to have support for their work with their speech students by day and get coursework after the school day through clinical practicums and summer externships.

Currently, there are approximately 1,900 speech improvement teachers and Speech Language Pathologists working for the New York City DOE. Although our members work in different areas of the city and with very different populations — a regional school district, a citywide program or a high school — all of them do a very important job because every child deserves the appropriate speech and language services that are recommended on their Individualized Education Programs (IEPs). As part of the IEP team we help to determine the best speech services for our students.

However, there are great shortages of speech personnel across the country. In New York City there is mounting pressure to change speech mandates and provide fewer services. While the distance learning program helps to address staff shortages, we cannot ignore the fact that shortages do exist. Where educationally feasible, we should cooperate in finding ways to alleviate the problems that shortages thrust upon the system.

But — and it is a big but — finding ways to alleviate those problems must never mean shortchanging the children! We always need to be mindful of whether our students’ speech language skills are commensurate with their peers and how they are doing educationally. As professionals, it is our obligation to balance best practices with meeting the needs of the children.

So, if you are getting pressured to change mandates and you do not agree with the administration, then you need to call our hotline number and let us know that this is happening. As a professional, it is you who must decide what is best for each and every student. It should not be decided on the basis of shortages of personnel. This is a very difficult job and it takes skill, dedication and the right balance to make sure that every child is receiving what he or she really needs.

The officers of the speech chapter are here to support you. As we continue to try to address shortages, we want to make sure that the DOE not only looks to recruit speech teachers and therapists but works on retaining quality members. Our chapter wants to make sure that we are all treated as professionals.

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