The Challenge:
While Virginia’s teacher shortage eased somewhat during the 2025–2026 school year, special education positions continued to see higher vacancy rates than other roles across the Commonwealth. Appomattox County Public Schools felt this pressure directly. Dr. Jason Tibbs, the division’s newly appointed superintendent, began the school year facing a difficult reality: a 30% vacancy rate among special education teaching staff that threatened to push certified teachers’ caseloads to unsustainable levels.
Dr. Tibbs understood what was at stake. Heavier caseloads would mean less individualized instructional time for students who depend on it most, and they would make it even harder to retain and recruit the special education teachers Appomattox needed for the years ahead. Rather than accept that tradeoff, he turned to Mary Sherry, the division’s Director of Student Services, and together they set out to find a strategic solution.
The Solution:
To meet its staffing challenge for the 2025–2026 school year, Appomattox County Public Schools partnered with Proximity Learning to bring in seven certified special education case managers. Working through the division’s VA IEP and PowerSchool SIS systems, along with a virtual conferencing platform, each PLI case manager joined the IEP teams of 135 students as a true collaborative partner. They ensured state and federal compliance by monitoring and supporting the weekly input of student progress data, writing and developing IEPs and transition plans for high school students, and scheduling, coordinating, and facilitating annual and triennial IEP meetings.
Ms. Sherry has seen the difference firsthand, noting that the case managers have consistently been knowledgeable, timely, and proactive in supporting compliance requirements, documentation, and coordination with each student’s IEP team. That consistency gave Appomattox’s own educators room to focus on what they do best: teaching.
The Result:
The impact was clear almost immediately. In a survey of school principals, administrators reported that special education teachers were able to devote more time to direct instruction for each student with an IEP, even amid ongoing vacancies. With compliance and coordination responsibilities lifted, administrators and specialists also had more time to support teachers in developing and delivering effective specially designed instruction, which contributed to stronger student SOL scores, particularly in Algebra I.
Perhaps most telling of all, Appomattox opened the 2026–2027 school year with zero special education vacancies. Every open position was filled, and every teacher from the previous year chose to stay. Ms. Sherry has noticed the shift extending even into recruitment. Applicants now regularly ask about case management loads during interviews, and Appomattox County Public
Schools is able to point to the division’s partnership with Proximity Learning as a direct answer, one that shows candidates exactly how the load on special education
teachers has been reduced. “Our partnership with Proximity Learning has made a real and lasting difference for our district,” Ms. Sherry said.
For Appomattox County Public Schools, the results speak for themselves: stronger student outcomes, a fully staffed special education team, and a district poised to build on that momentum in the years ahead.
