Exterminating Special Education

“I knocked on doors and met with district officials and made sure that my daughter’s needs were on their radars; they became very familiar with my name, my face, and, most importantly, my voice.” - Vicky Maronyan

The LAUSD is a huge bureaucracy where the needs of an individual student are often lost. This is especially true if the child has special educational needs and requires an individualized plan to meet their full potential. These plans perplexe the Beaudry Bureaucrats who prefer standardization and despise anything that will add costs to the budget.

I was asked to start at the beginning, but that’s a long story. There is much to say about the inexcusable changes occurring to Special Education in LAUSD. A lot of parents of children with special needs in the LAUSD education system have similar stories. They are filled with disappointments and the feeling that the district does not care about your child.

With the ambitious plan put in place by the new Superintendent, Alberto M. Carvalho, the feeling that students with Special Needs are at most, an afterthought, is now a reality for many parents. I am one of those parents.

My child has been in the Autism Core program since the third grade. The challenges in previous years of mixed special education classes that finally brought us to Aut Core were bad. Autism Core has been a bright light in the dark and confusing wormhole of Special Education. With the relief of finding the right fit in Aut Core for my child, and watching her and, her classmates alike thrive, there was always an underlying feeling of insecurity. Why? Here’s why…

After the 2019 strike, SpEd teachers learned the cap on student count was raised. While this meant larger class sizes, no additional support was provided. This allowed for class closures when the “norm numbers” were not met. Sure enough, in 2019 my daughter’s 6th-grade class was shut down and the students were herded into another class. They lumped all of the students together; 6th, 7th, and 8th grades all in one classroom. The teacher was overwhelmed and the students' anxiety caused by this abrupt change resulted in several meltdowns every day. There was no education for them, just getting through each day. This is when my advocacy started at full speed.

I had no time for learning about the politics of LAUSD so I consumed as much as I could about their procedures and administrative roles while trying to get things restored. I knocked on doors and met with district officials and made sure that my daughter’s needs were on their radars; they became very familiar with my name, my face, and, most importantly, my voice. Little did I know how much I would need this familiarity in the future.

My persuasiveness paid off and the 6th-grade class was reinstated. Unfortunately, the victory would be short-lived as the pandemic hit and we went online. The following school year we lost our beloved 6th-grade teacher. He was a good fit for Aut Core, his ABA experience and teaching ability were invaluable. I still miss him and his great impact on the education of the students.

So here we are today. My daughter finished middle school only to learn just three months prior to our transition IEP, that the Aut Core class we thought our child and her classmates were going to is set to close. In its place, the district is pushing for widespread inclusion for all Special Education students regardless of their level of function, ability, or tolerance for the program. Everything that made special education special is being extinguished at the expense of our children.

Many of us with experience in special education knew inclusion has been talked about for a long time but this is an escalation of implementation many students were not prepared for, and to be honest, there will always be a portion of special needs students for whom this is the wrong fit.

I will be very clear in saying I AM NOT AGAINST INCLUSION. It is important to have integrity and be mindful of all special needs individuals. What parent of a child with special needs wouldn’t love to see their child be able to participate in a general education class? I’m not fighting against inclusion. I’m fighting for the proper preparation, and for safeguarding the students who can’t learn in an inclusive environment. There is a difference and it is important for the administrators to recognize this and ensure the accommodations for ALL students with special needs are met.

The plan set in full force motion pushing Inclusion FOR ALL is oversimplified and thoughtless. It does not meet the needs of the students it claims to benefit. This plan is closing much-needed programs for special needs students and forcing them into an environment with little or no support. It's a recipe for disaster to which I am not willing to subject my daughter or any other child who is not able. This is wrong and as much as I would like to prove my point I will not use our children to do so, although it certainly seems like the district has no qualms in what they are doing to them.

I am a mother with a disabling health condition and the stress this is causing is harsh but my suffering takes last place when it comes to the children. I refuse to let them be disregarded in such a careless plan put forth by LAUSD.

Since late March I have made countless attempts to convey this to the LAUSD Special Education Coordinator, LRE specialists, Administrator of Instruction, Local LDNW Superintendent, as well as local board members. I have sent emails and received little or no response. I’ve had conversations regarding parents' concerns and the frightening position we have been given and been told they will follow up with us but they have yet to do anything, I’m still waiting for responses. I have asked for and proposed solutions and the district has flat-out rejected them.

I was fortunate to arrange a meeting with Board Member Schmerelson. He took the time to hear us parents and he was very receptive to my solution but the LAUSD Special Education Coordinator who was part of this meeting kept shutting down his responses of understanding.
Why is the district opposed to a solution that meets the students’ needs and costs them nothing? I find it deeply troublesome that the so-called district plan put in place takes priority over the true needs of these children.

One proposed solution is to allow the 9th-grade students to stay in the middle school that they attended for the past three years. Their needs were being met in the middle school environment and the principal readily agrees to make this accommodation. So why won’t the district allow it when they are the ones who caused the problem in the first place? They forced this solution and all of the parents welcome this more than sending their kids farther away on a bus to find a program because the program a mile away is gone? Why? The district closed down our program, they gave no option within a reasonable distance and outright deny the solution every parent is jumping at the chance to accept.

The other solution is to restore the Autism Core program in the school that they are scheduled to attend in the fall. By saving this program our children will not be forced to travel far out to find another school that may or may not have a program that works. For this solution, I reached out to Board Member Nick Melvoin who oversees our residence High School. That took a lot of emails, back and forth, and what I almost perceived as an attempt to dodge, but after a discussion with Mr. Melvoin’s community engagement administrator, we secured a meeting in two weeks.

Summer is halfway through and there is an entire class of Special Needs students with Autism due to start 9th grade but have no idea where they will go. We literally have no school and are all forced to due process because of this program closure.

I have asked for assistance from everyone I could think to ask. Even when told no, I push on because there’s no other choice. Parents are losing hope and are considering homeschooling as a last resort, which is not what we want, we want our children in school.

Our children want to go to school. The question is, do the Board Members, who are supposed to ensure the district is meeting the community needs, care enough to make the right decisions for the students? The future of my child, her classmates, and many others rests in the conscience and courage of our elected officials. I hope they stand up to their words of supporting the students; the time to prove that is NOW.

Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD’s District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him “a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles.” For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.