The federal government will track interdistrict transfers of
Morgan Hill’s special education students for two years after siding
with two special education students who say they were discriminated
against when denied interdistrict transfers last year.
The federal government will track interdistrict transfers of Morgan Hill’s special education students for two years after siding with two special education students who say they were discriminated against when denied interdistrict transfers last year.
The office reviewed records of all 30 students requesting transfers during the 2007/08 school year. The only 2008/09 seniors who were denied transfers were Jessica Perez and Sebastian Hauser, both special education students at Ann Sobrato High School.
The district said that Perez’s transfer was revoked because she had behavior issues, but had documented just one instance of bad behavior: she was using her cell phone in class.
“It was difficult for (the office) to see a logical degree of proportionality between the identified misconduct and the very serious consequences,” wrote Arthur Zeidman, director of the San Francisco regional office for civil rights.
For Hauser, too, the district provided no information showing that the student had any alleged behavior problems.
Perez’s mother, Jenny O’Callaghan, took the case to the Santa Clara County Office of Education Board of Education, which overturned Perez’s denial. Both Perez and Hauser did attend Sobrato their senior year, but neither walked in the June graduation ceremony.
Hauser chose to accept a certificate of completion in lieu of taking more classes to receive a diploma, according to a letter from the office for civil rights. Perez was five credits short of the requirement, and took summer school to make up for it. She will participate in the summer school graduation ceremony Tuesday.
Assistant Superintendent of Human Resources Jay Totter, who was acting special education director for part of the year, declined to speak directly about this case or any other, citing confidentiality laws.
“The laws in special education are so complicated that it really does take an attorney to understand it many times. It inadvertently brings us into conflict with parents and guardians many times. But there are two sides to interpretation. In the end, we are making improvement, there is a concerted effort. We intend to abide by the law for every one of these children.”
Special Education Director Chris Rizzuto, who was hired last summer, was on leaves on and off throughout the last school year due to a family illness.
O’Callaghan said she’s waiting for results from a state Department of Education investigation. A state education department spokeswoman confirmed that there is a Morgan Hill case they are investigating, but could not comment further. The results of the investigation should come out in August. Once she gets those, she plans on filing a lawsuit against the school district with the ACLU, she said.
“They took their education, stripped them of all their dignity,” she said. “All their self-esteem is gone.”
O’Callaghan said she’s glad her efforts will make a difference for students still in Morgan Hill Unified School Districts.
The two cases landed in the United States Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in January. The office completed the investigations last month.
The Office for Civil Rights received three complaints in 2008 from Morgan Hill. One was resolved before the investigation was complete, one was thrown out due to insufficient evidence and the third, regarding identifying students for evaluation, resulted in monitoring from the federal office.
