Rio Rancho schools form task force after special education audit concerns

Families who rely on special education in Rio Rancho should see the first changes when a 15-member district team begins work in late April or early May, with a mandate to turn a 130-page audit into three rounds of recommendations over several years.

That audit, completed by Gibson Consulting Group after an eight-month review, said the district’s special education program lacked vision, showed persistent employee burnout and may need some roles reevaluated. The review included an employee survey and interviews with district officials, including then-Superintendent Sue Cleveland, and it was driven in part by complaints from the Rio Rancho School Employees Union over high student caseloads.

Jerry Reeder, the district’s executive director of special services, told the Rio Rancho Public Schools Board of Education that the new team will include administrators, teachers and special services staff. Reeder said the group will not produce a single quick fix. Instead, it will issue recommendations in three phases, stretching the work out over several years. He also said the special education department had not undergone a review in almost 15 years.

The practical stakes are immediate. Rio Rancho Public Schools special services says it serves children ages 3 to 21, and the district’s enrollment tops 17,000 students across 20 schools. For parents, that means the audit is not just about internal management. It affects whether students get required support, whether schools follow individualized plans consistently and whether communication improves from classroom to classroom.

District leaders have framed the response as a systems overhaul, not a defense of the status quo. Chief Operations Officer Mike Baker said the consultant’s report was fair and included good recommendations. He also said the review credited some high-quality instruction and commendable special-education practices, even as it called for changes to processes and systems.

Superintendent Robert “Robby” Dodd, whose 100-day entry plan runs from March 1 through June 9, said the findings would help the district improve student services. He pointed to professional development, more consistency across schools and better management of special-education caseloads as priorities. That places accountability on the district’s top leadership, Reeder’s office and the board as the work moves from audit language to day-to-day classroom support.

Union president Billie Helean, an Ernest Stapleton Elementary School teacher, said she was not surprised by the findings and said the union wanted changes that would improve both working and learning conditions. For Rio Rancho families, the test now is whether the district can reduce burnout, steady staffing and make special education more reliable before the next school year begins.