School officials hold meeting to address public criticism
By: William Wichert
MANSFIELD School officials and parents have still not come to an agreement over changes needed in the school district’s elementary special education program.
Last week a meeting was held in response to public criticism made by parents concerned about both the services being provided to their special needs children and the several therapists who have left the district in recent years.
The meeting was closed to the public and press due to the sensitive nature of the discussion items, such as personnel matters and specific student cases, said Mansfield Township Elementary School Principal Joseph Langowski before the meeting.
In separate phone interviews afterward, however, school officials said the meeting did not leave them with a clear sense of what problem exists with the special education program. Some parents questioned the format of the meeting, saying they did not have much opportunity to voice their concerns to school officials.
"I thought it was a waste of time," said Vicki Mansure, whose son receives speech therapy. "It was just something to appease us. It was very demeaning to parents."
According to Mr. Langowski, the meeting was based on a "carousel design," in which parents travel in groups to five stations throughout the room, each of which allows the district to answer pre-written questions. Mr. Langowski said these questions included "What can we do to improve the special education program?" and "What are the strengths of the program?"
Mr. Langowski said the "carousel design," which he learned at Princeton University, has proven to be a useful tool with teachers in other school district meetings.
"It is designed to acquire information when you have a wide variety of stakeholders," said Mr. Langowski in a conference call on Wednesday with Rebecca Khettry-Clay, the district’s director of Special Education. "The outcome of the meeting gave us some direction."
That direction will lead to an "action plan" to improve the special education program, which will be worked out between parents and school officials, said Ms. Clay.
Speaking by phone on Monday, Ms. Clay said she is committed to solving problems with the program, once she understands what those problems are. She said she is not entirely clear about that, because most parents do not come forward.
"All a parent has to do is call us," said Ms. Clay. "We never turn a parent away."
At various Board of Education meetings over the last few months, parents’ concerns have come down to two principal issues: four speech therapists have resigned over the last two years and their children’s services are being cut. Parents said they were not consulted when changes were made to their children’s Individualized Education Program (IEP).
This high turnover of therapists affects the children’s comfort level and overall development, because they do not have a consistent person conducting their services, parents have said.
Ms. Clay said those therapists left for four separate, personal reasons that have nothing to do with school district. Filling those spots has been difficult due to the statewide shortage of therapists, but the two remaining therapist vacancies will be filled by March, said Ms. Clay.
As for the special education services, Ms. Clay said each student’s IEP is being followed. If any changes were made to the IEP, they were first discussed with parents, teachers, and members of the child study team at a meeting, she said.
Ms. Clay said district officials have also visited parents’ homes to hold the meetings, and provided translators if the parents speak a foreign language. The final IEP is then mailed to the parents and they have 15 days to object, she said.
These procedures seem to please the most parents of the 85 special needs students in the district, said Ms. Clay, who conducted an informal survey of parents in October.
The survey, which was a series of questions presented to students in classrooms to bring home, showed that over 90 percent of parents were "satisfied" with the special education program, said Ms. Clay.
"We have a really great special education program," said Ms. Clay. "It’s kind of a shame we’re all getting this negative publicity."
Ms. Clay provided the names of a speech therapist and two child study team members, but the three individuals did not return calls and e-mails for comment.
The next meeting between parents and school officials will be Tuesday, when parents are expected to conduct a presentation of their concerns. For now, parents just have to remain patient that changes are on the way, she said.
"It’s a wait-and-see kind of thing. Hopefully, (officials) will help," said Kim Varava, whose children receive physical therapy. "We want to give them a chance."