Special Education
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Across the States
CA: California agrees to include religious schools as special education placements
K-12 Dive
The California Department of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District will include religious private schools as potential placements for students with disabilities, according to a settlement agreement reached Monday between the school systems and a group of Jewish parents and schools. The agreement means public funding for special education could be used for tuition at religious schools. The parents and schools sued the state and district in 2023 because school systems wouldn’t consider Orthodox Jewish schools as potential school placements for students with disabilities, which they claimed was unconstitutional religious discrimination. The agreement is a “win for religious liberty,” the plaintiffs said, but public school advocates and those promoting the separation of church and state said it would expand the use of taxpayer-funded money being used for religious education.
CA: Orcutt parents voice concerns over student behavior and safety
Ksby.com
What began as a routine school board meeting turned into a charged evening of testimony for the Orcutt Union School District as a growing number of parents and guardians stepped forward to share stories of escalating student behavior in classrooms. Some parents described incidents they say are disrupting learning and putting their children at risk. At the heart of the meeting was a plea: do more to protect the safety and stability of classrooms. Dana and Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Susan Salucci said the district is taking the issue seriously and working within the limitations of both state and federal laws, especially when it comes to students with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs).
LA: Parents sue Willow School over selective admissions process
nola.com
The parents of a 9-year-old boy with profound disabilities have sued a selective charter school in New Orleans, claiming that the school’s use of an admissions test violates legal protections for students with disabilities. In a lawsuit filed this week in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana, Chris and Cristina Edmunds argue that the Willow School’s entrance exam excludes students with disabilities — including their son Oscar — from moving forward in the application process. As a result, they argue, the process violates state and federal protections for people with disabilities, including the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Louisiana Human Rights Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the federal law that gives students with disabilities the right to a free and appropriate public education. The Willow School, whose mission is to provide a rigorous education to academically gifted students, is one of several New Orleans charter schools that require prospective students to earn a certain score on a reading and math test.
ME: ‘It broke him, and it broke me’: Maine parents, educators describe trauma from restraint and seclusion
Yahoo.com
Krystal Emerson never imagined her son would spend his days at school being forcibly moved against his will by school staff and shut in an empty room. But during the 2023-24 school year at Ellsworth Elementary-Middle School, that’s what happened — at least 18 times, according to Emerson and school district incident reports reviewed by the Maine Morning Star. Staff members put the 7-year-old boy in holds, forced him into empty rooms, and did not let him out until he calmed down or his parents picked him up. “It broke him, and it broke me,” Emerson said. The trauma became so severe that her son, now a third grader, no longer attends school in person, she said. What happened to Emerson’s son is not an isolated case. Across Maine, schools use restraint and seclusion on students more than 10,000 times each year, according to Maine Department of Education data. A 2021 state law limits restraint and seclusion to emergencies. But as Maine educators report more challenging student behavior in the years since pandemic school closures, there have been calls to allow school staff to restrain and seclude children more often. A newly proposed bill would broaden the circumstances under which school staff could restrain or seclude students, igniting debate among educators, parents and lawmakers about how to manage student behavior without inflicting harm.
TX: School discipline code rewrite to take immediate effect as bill passes Texas Legislature
Dallas News
Educators have long urged lawmakers to revamp school discipline laws, detailing horror stories about suffering injuries on the job from violent students. In a poll cited by the state’s 2023 Teacher Vacancy Task Force report, nearly half of educators listed discipline and safe working conditions as a top concern. Education justice advocates cautioned against a return to zero-tolerance discipline that led to disproportionately high numbers of Black children and those with disabilities being punished – saying that exclusionary discipline is detrimental to a child’s development as well as the school climate. The new law would make it easier to kick young children out of class by allowing for students below third grade to be removed for “conduct that results in repeated or significant disruption to the classroom.” This comes nearly a decade after lawmakers banned out-of-school suspensions for these littlest learners, except for serious offenses such as bringing a gun or marijuana to class.
CA: California agrees to include religious schools as special education placements
K-12 Dive
The California Department of Education and the Los Angeles Unified School District will include religious private schools as potential placements for students with disabilities, according to a settlement agreement reached Monday between the school systems and a group of Jewish parents and schools. The agreement means public funding for special education could be used for tuition at religious schools. The parents and schools sued the state and district in 2023 because school systems wouldn’t consider Orthodox Jewish schools as potential school placements for students with disabilities, which they claimed was unconstitutional religious discrimination. The agreement is a “win for religious liberty,” the plaintiffs said, but public school advocates and those promoting the separation of church and state said it would expand the use of taxpayer-funded money for religious education.
ME: Schools report thousands of restraints and seclusions per year, but the real number is higher
Louisiana Illuminator
Maine students have been restrained and secluded more than 22,000 times a year in some years. But the real number of times educators put students in holds, move them against their will, and shut them alone in small rooms is likely much higher. Restraint and seclusion are widely condemned practices that create lasting trauma for students, their families, and the educators involved. That’s why every use is supposed to be documented and reported to the state. But over the past decade, only 24 out of more than 250 private schools and public districts in Maine have consistently reported their numbers. Maine law mandates annual reporting to the Maine Department of Education, however, the department did not say whether there was any penalty for failing to report.
NY: NYC schools suspend students with disabilities longer than legally allowed
Chalkbeat
New York City’s public schools routinely flout federal rules designed to prevent schools from removing children from class for long periods due to behavior related to their disabilities, a Chalkbeat investigation has found. To examine the discipline process, Chalkbeat obtained hundreds of pages of special education records and rulings from impartial hearing officers who reviewed appeals from families whose children with disabilities received lengthy punishments. Those records, as well as interviews with more than a dozen parents, advocates, and school officials, reveal a pattern of schools failing to properly consider a student’s disability during the suspension process. As a result, some students are serving longer punishments than legally allowed, a problem that disproportionately affects Black students. The removals can compound academic struggles among students who are often far behind their peers.
TN: Informal removals of students with disabilities from classrooms raise concerns
wbir.com
As students across East Tennessee wrap up the school year, many families of students with disabilities are meeting with educators to discuss how to support their children moving forward. However, a recent report from the Tennessee Comptroller’s Office of Research and Educational Accountability (OREA) highlights that not all removals of students from classrooms are being documented, raising questions about how these students are being supported. These instances, known as “informal removals,” happen when students with disabilities are sent home during the school day due to behavioral issues, but the removal is not recorded as a suspension or expulsion. Without documentation, families miss key protections under special education law. “It was both concerning because we were removing these kids from the learning environment,” said Jeff Strand, a former special education teacher. “But also I watched as it didn’t accomplish anything. It removed the child, it didn’t solve any problems and we just kicked the can down the line and that’s not how you help these kids be successful.”
CA: Protestors rally in Hanford amid statewide push against education cuts
ABC30 Fresno
Several dozen people gathered in Hanford on Saturday morning. Attendees were seen making signs while hoping to rally for change. At one point, the large group of people even stopped traffic while marching through the city. The California Teachers Association hosted rallies across the state. Organizers say they felt it was important to speak up. “Our special ed students and their families rely on the services we provide to them. And when cuts to those programs happen, then it impacts the families, the students and the educators as well,” said Allison Colley.