Parents of students with disabilities should attend a meeting with school district leaders at least once a year to discuss their child's development and develop an individualized education plan that details the services the student will receive for the school year. Discuss changes.
State guidelines say parents are “equal members” of the planning and placement team (a group that also includes teachers and school administrators who determine a child's educational needs), but they do not share the same information as family members in the room with whom they plan. We're hiring experts to help us move forward. The special education system tells a different story.
They describe the conference as a battlefield.
They say these encounters often end with school personnel's concerns about parents being ignored, belittled or threatened.
Parents, lawyers and special education advocates say the problem lies not with classroom educators but with district administrators, whose relationships lack partnership and transparency.
“There are hundreds of cases where toxic relationships exist between schools and parents,” said Andrew Feinstein, a special education attorney who has been practicing law for more than 20 years. “[Districts] I think I absolutely understand my child, but I don't understand her at all. … It’s this kind of arrogance about expertise … They’re going through the process and telling parents like, “We’re doing what we’re supposed to do.” …And our hope is that our parents agree with us, but what if they don't? Well, we still know what's right. ”
In a statement to the Connecticut Mirror, the state Department of Education said, “Positive and proactive communication between school districts/programs and parents is essential to effective outcomes for students with disabilities. ”.
Matthew Cerrone, Director of Public Affairs for the Department of Education, also said that the Department of Education's Office of Special Education Call Center and the Connecticut Parent Advocacy Center are available to help parents understand procedural safeguards, file complaints, and provide other “family-school resolution assistance.” It also outlined state resources that can support people's options. controversy. ”
But officials say more needs to be done.
Officials say legal and educational jargon, hundreds of pages of brochures, and interactions that give parents the impression that there are clear power relationships make it difficult to meaningfully participate in meetings with the school district. say: It's also difficult to know the full scope of your rights and what you can challenge, demand, and negotiate with the school district that educates your child.
“Raising a child with a disability is difficult, but on top of that you have to be expected to know things you don't know about education. …Schools confuse parents at every level.” “We are set up to do so,” said Kit Savage, the school's managing director. savage advocate She is also the mother of two children with disabilities. “[The system] It’s stacked against them. Parents who lack outside support are set up to fail. ”
“It feels intimidating as a single parent to walk into a room full of professionals who are on the same team. It's scary for everyone. They work in the same district, and they communicate about this issue. , they are communicating, but there is an information imbalance,” said Kathryn Sheinberg Meyer, an attorney with the court. child advocacy center.
Sheinberg-Meyer said community leaders can provide “escape routes” to families if they want to speak on their behalf, if a family wants specific information or data, or if they request further services for their child. He said that he may give.
Parents across Connecticut say meeting with school districts has been a frustrating process, with school leaders they may once have trusted denying some of their highest-needs students equal access to public education. They say they feel like they are depriving them of access.
But Fran Rabinowitz, executive director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents and former superintendent of Bridgeport and Hamden, said that amid teacher shortages and rising costs for special education services, most school districts are “doing as much as they can.” I'm doing my best,” he says.
“I know that Waterbury has cut about 55 special education teachers,” Rabinowitz said. “There's no way you can provide the full service that you want to provide. And the number of cases is way higher, and that worries me.”
Rabinowitz said he hasn't heard the superintendent directly address complaints between families and administrators, but said parents' concerns are “justifiable” if it's happening in many districts. Ta.
“If we fail all our special education teachers,[educators] Rabinowitz added that some school districts are now hiring contractors to help with staffing issues that are impacting school budgets and rising special education costs.
Connecticut public school spending is approximately $2.7 billion annually for special education services. In some school districts, special education costs make up a significant portion of the budget. For example, Bridgeport educates more students with disabilities than any other city in the state. 26% of total expenditure When school districts can't meet students' needs, they may spend money on special education, such as teacher salaries, transportation costs, or outsourcing to other schools.
a new portal The state's complaints will be made public on the Department of Education's website, which was launched in late April. The few complaints filed in the first few weeks, mostly regarding the failure to properly implement his IEP, have so far been filed in Danbury, New Haven, Wallingford, Bristol, and Connecticut Tech. Uploaded from Education and Career System.
A formal state complaint may be filed by a family or organization if it is believed that “a local school district or other public education agency is violating the requirements of state special education law or federal law.” be. state education department. The Office of Special Education must then investigate and issue a report of findings within 60 days.
The state Department of Education explains how common complaints of inadequate services are, why the process between families and school districts feels combative, and makes it difficult for school districts to meet special education demands. He did not answer questions about what the cause was. But interviews with parents across the state, from the most affluent neighborhoods like Woodbridge to towns like Watertown, cities like Bridgeport and suburbs like Enfield, show the problem is widespread. Sufficient similarities have been noted to indicate that it may be widespread.
“It's like a battlefield.”
Tensions started a few days ago as Jennifer Kotto prepared for a PPT meeting with Watertown Public Schools.
She said the meeting was “anxiety-filled.”
She made a list of all the questions and concerns she had regarding her 4-year-old daughter Isabel's preschool plans. In some cases, it may take several pages to prepare. She just wanted to get organized.
Before the meeting, Kotto would sit in her car and take a few deep breaths to make sure she was calm enough to participate in the meeting.
“This is my daughter and I'm going to go to war for my children, but I don't want that to be the first impression they get of me,” she said.
Kott, who has worked as a case manager for more than 15 years and is currently studying for a master's degree in social work, knows the system and that “nothing about it is easy.”
Because of her professional background, she is prepared to assume the worst.
She expected her first PPT meeting to be painful, given her years of experience advocating for other families “on and on and on.”
But when setting up a meeting was easy, just introducing herself and her child and setting up a time for testing, she was hopeful that maybe her case would be different.
That dream didn't last long. At the second meeting, there was a lot of disagreement about the services her daughter needed.
“As parents of high-functioning children, we are always told, 'Just having a disability is not enough to get you the help you want.' Otherwise, we have to discuss how to get help.” Kotto added that even though her daughter is medically diagnosed with autism, the district wants to limit her daughter's IEP “as a developmental delay.”
Watertown Public Schools did not respond to requests for comment.
“My school district tried to tell me that she might grow out of this situation,” Kotto said. “But we immediately said 'no'. You're not going to grow out of autism.” She's always been on the autism spectrum. Become a productive child. But…you can't label her as developmentally delayed so she doesn't get the services she needs.”
Disability classification can change the services provided to a student. Children on the autism spectrum may receive behavioral therapy and one-on-one instruction, while children diagnosed with learning disabilities may receive limited services, such as additional testing time.
“It's a resistance to providing a complete service, a balanced service,” Kott said.
After her daughter's medical diagnosis, Kott sent her to private occupational therapy. Kott said the school district told her that because her daughter was functioning well, including holding a pencil, she would not need physical therapy services at school.
“But the only reason she's doing so well is because she has a civilian OT outside of school,” Kotto said. “Schools are looking at, 'How is this impacting education in this moment?'” And what I want to know is, how is this impacting education in the long term? The question is, does it have that kind of impact? So if I stop taking her daughter out of OT now, what will happen to her in six months? ”
By her third PPT meeting, held less than a year after enrolling in the pre-K program, Ms. Kotto said the district had refused to provide her daughter with a “price tag” after she said the district refused to provide 30 minutes of academic instruction. He said that he felt like he was just looking at him as a person. Physical therapy once a week.
“Are you willing to give her a 30-minute service to say, 'At least try it and decide it's not necessary?'” Kot said he doubts the district will block the proposal altogether. He added that the story would have been different if they had tried to compromise instead.
“It's literally like a battlefield. It's really bad and it feels like we're always at war,” Kotto said. “The way they were handled was terrible. It really felt like, 'I'm sorry, but your child isn't worth it.' Your child's needs are not enough for us. ”
Kotto's family left Watertown this spring and moved to Ansonia.
“Squeaky wheels get grease.”
Shari Jackson said after her child has been in public school for 13 years, she can't wait for the final PPT meeting at the end of the year.
“Having a child with special needs is not the hardest thing to do, but getting a child with special needs into a school district is the hardest thing I've ever done in my life,” Jackson said. .
During her adopted daughter's K-12 education in both Wethersfield and Enfield, Jackson sometimes stayed up until 2 a.m. preparing for meetings.
The Connecticut Mirror is a content partner of States Newsroom. Read the original version here.