Autism Program at Hickory Elementary School Making Changes

Hickory Elementary School’s regional autism program is under pressure to reform on the heels of an investigation into allegations of abuse regarding special needs students.

The Maryland Disability Law Center, spurred to action by phone calls and an anonymous letter, investigated the school’s autism program—where behaviors such as spraying students with water bottles for discipline were said to be occurring—according to The Baltimore Sun.

The school system reports it is now working with the center to make changes that will improve the learning environment, taking measures such as decreasing class sizes and adding consultants.

“We have worked collaboratively with the Maryland Disability Law Center in addressing the issues that were identified in their report and continue to do so,” Harford County Public Schools spokeswoman Jillian Lader said in a statement provided to Patch.

Lader noted the investigation occurred more than a year ago and the findings were released in January.

Since then, Lader said, the school system has made the following changes:

• Decreased class sizes
• Increased inclusive learning opportunities
• Worked with two board-certified consultants on applied behavior analysis programming
• Adopted a “total communication approach,” collaborating with speech/language therapists and assistive technology personnel to ensure students have access to various modes of communication

For the 2015-2016 academic year, Lader said the autism program has grown from three to six schools and is now in Darlington Elementary, Forest Hill Elementary, Hickory Elementary, Patterson Mill Middle, Roye Williams Elementary and Fallston High School.

“Through the expansion, the class size was reduced and the students have increased opportunity for inclusive learning opportunities,” Lader said.

The county provided funds to make that possible.

“Some of these changes did require funding allocations, such as the addition of an autism program at Fallston High School, that were approved through the Board of Education as well as the County Council, as it was a transfer of funds and implemented in this budget year,” Lader said.

Maryland Disability Law Center’s managing attorney Leslie Margolis, who spent months working on the investigation, told WJZ that in her 30 years of work, “I’ve seen a lot, but this was probably the hardest...“

Margolis told WJZ one student was penned into a confined space in a classroom at Hickory Elementary, which she used words such as “unconscionable” and “outrageous” to describe.

The former principal at Hickory Elementary School, Jeanette Jennings, who retired after being placed on administrative leave last October, told The Baltimore Sun that her removal was symbolic of the symptom but not necessarily indicative of a solution: “They had to show they were holding people accountable,” Jennings reportedly said, “but they weren’t holding the right people accountable.”

Photo Credit: Harford County Public Schools.