VOLUSIA COUNTY, Fla. — On Tuesday, the Volusia County School Board and leadership from the teachers union met in a first-of-its-kind workshop.

Together they spent hours delving into many important issues surrounding school safety, learning, and teacher workload. Two other major issues discussed were problems ESE teachers are facing and some Volusia Online Learning teachers having class rosters with close to 400 students. 

Board Member Carl Persis said he did not know about these problems until the workshop.  

“So then the question becomes, well why are their class loads so high?” Persis said. “And then you find out, well, they are teaching high school English and there is a shortage of English teachers.”

While no firm solutions were decided, Albert said she feels encouraged and believes school staff, parents and students should too. 

“These things take time but the first step is to have the conversation, and if this conversation produces fruit in the form of getting people what they need in order to be successful, then that is a great first step,” said Elizabeth Albert, president of Volusia United Educators.

At this time, the school board says there are no plans to have another workshop like this, but Albert hopes there will be more going forward. Albert explained she expects to see solid solutions grow out of these conversations in the near future.​