It was brought to our attention before Christmas break 2021 that Ms Dean would be leaving her special education class teaching DDPre at Conlee Elementary and moving positions and schools.  The announcement was unexpected by everyone and was not taken lightly.  Each of the children in Ms Dean’s class have some type of disability, this means their educators need to be expert caregivers, great communicators, and most of all have great relationships with the children and their parents.  Ms Dean has all those things.  She has been involved in most of our children’s lives for more than a year and we have had zero complaints.  In fact, we have all grown to love Ms Dean, her teaching style, her care for our children and her communication with us parents. 

When Ms Dean was informed of her reassignment, she received no other information than she was being reassigned.  The communication was terrible from the school district and from my understanding, not even the leadership at her school was informed of why she was being reassigned, only that she was being reassigned.  Only when I called the school district was I informed that her special education license had lapsed and this was the reason for her reassignment.  This was through no fault of her own as she had completed the required COUs, was willing to pay the renewal fee and has had glowing evaluations in her classroom.  It is my understanding that the reason Ms Dean was not allowed to renew her special education license was that the final approver would not sign off on her renewal.  No one was given a reason as to why this was the case and I, for one, am very surprised by this action.  From everything that I know about Ms Dean and her teaching, she should be able to have her license renewed without incident. 

The whole process for Ms Dean not being allowed to renew her license and continue teaching in her same position seems very suspect to me.  It seems that there is either a personal vendetta against her or something else going on behind the scenes that is very shady.  I am not okay with the school district at large treating Ms Dean this way as teachers, especially SPED teachers, are hard enough to keep the way it is.  Let alone great teacher like Ms Dean. 

My petition is to have Ms Dean allowed to receive her renewed special education license and be reinstated to her DDPre classroom at Conlee Elementary as soon as possible.  Our children have gotten used to their routine and the love that Ms Dean provides daily.  Our children are not normal in the sense that they can adapt and overcome their routine on someone else’s whim.  I have had to work for several weeks now with severe push back from my 4-year-old when I mention that there will be another teacher in place of Ms Dean (no matter how much I try to talk it up).  These children need the consistency that Ms Dean provides, they need the structure that she created, and they need the love that she lavished on them in and out of the classroom. 

Below you will find signatures of others who feel the same as I do about this process.  They are either other parents of her students or family members/friends who realize how amazing Ms Dean is with her students.  This petition may also include others who do not appreciate how poorly teachers are sometimes treated. We will not stop petitioning and drawing attention to this unfair treatment until Ms Dean has her renewed license and is reinstated in her position at Conlee. Ms Dean is as eager to keep her position as we are to have her back in the classroom!