Parents, staff and teachers charge that the local school district does not do enough for special education as far as responding to requests for assistance.
By Mark Bassett/Special to The Malibu Times
The needs of special education students have long been an item of contention for parents of such students when it comes to the local school district providing adequate financial and other assistance. Now that the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District is mandated by the Board of Education to come up with a strategic plan for special education by June 5, parents and staff might find some relief.
As part of the process of coming up with such a plan, meetings are being conducted to gather input from parents, teachers and staff.
Inclusion in the academic and social environment, the need for autism specialists and school district responsiveness were the primary concerns of roughly 20 Malibu mothers of special education students and a handful of city teachers and staffers gathered at a public comment session on Monday evening at Malibu High School.
Director of Special Education Cindy Atlas began the process of such a plan as a result of a comprehensive analysis of the system.
“We are trying to identify what areas need improvement and then create a year-by-year plan …creating a more specialized reading program and a diagnostic kindergarten, improving transportation, and establishing summer school,” Atlas said in her opening remarks.
Atlas said the district needs autism specialists and an increase in infrastructure and office personnel to implement the changes to special education. The changes would improve the current system, which she said wasn’t doing what it should do, and was forcing special needs students to leave the school district to find the care they need to advance in social and educational development.
While the effort to restructure the current system will include Malibu High School and Juan Cabrillo Elementary School, the comments of many Malibu mothers and teachers, with some exceptions, show that the Malibu schools could serve as a model for other institutions in the school district.
Parent Laureen Sills explained that she is kept informed of the daily progress of her child, and that the teachers at Juan Cabrillo are concerned and caring. In an effort to address issues of inclusion, Sills is in the process of developing a Circle of Friends program similar to the Best Buddies Club already in place at Malibu High. The Best Buddies Club, started with the help of Malibu High Teacher Lisa Szilagyi, pairs children with disabilities with those in mainstream education programs to increase the level of understanding and tolerance. A byproduct of the program is rapid social development in both groups.
“Special ed students want to excel,” Szilagyi said. “The program motivates them to reach the next level. They want to hang out with typical teens.”
Parent and teacher comments reveal that the main area for improvement is within the school district itself. Speaking under conditions of anonymity, one teacher commented that in order to get assistance from the district, the staff regularly uses the threat of parental litigation, and that teachers personally pay for conferences and training programs to keep abreast of the rapidly developing theories and practices for best serving those with specific special needs. The teacher explained that when they have a student who needs special attention, and request help from the district, the response from the district is to “deal with it at your school.” A district representative said they would look into the issue.
The disconnect also translates to bilingual students and parents, whose children’s Individual Education Plans (IEPs), the road map for handling special education and physical therapy, aren’t comprehendible because of the language barrier.
“I’ve often requested translations [from the district] of many individual student’s IEPs, and in six years they’ve never been sent,” said Srugen Constanza, a translator at several Malibu schools.
The problem could be attributed to the financial constraints of the school district, under which the federally mandated Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, should be receiving government funding of 40 percent for programs, and, according to Atlas, is currently receiving only 15 percent.
The beleaguered finances of the district extend to general education as well. However, according to Craig Hamilton, chairman of the Finance Oversight Committee, the Special Education Strategic Plan will strive to make the most of the funds allocated to the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District Special Education Program.