A group of parents have filed a noncompliance complaint against
the Morgan Hill Unified School District that they say has a long
rap sheet of treating special needs students inadequately.
A group of parents have filed a noncompliance complaint against the Morgan Hill Unified School District that they say has a long rap sheet of treating special needs students inadequately.
The complaint was filed with the California Department of Education July 29 on behalf of seven special needs students who attend schools in MHUSD by a group called the Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association. One parent and member of that group, Buddy Pohl, spoke at the school district’s board meeting Aug. 10.
“We have extended our hand and had it slapped repeatedly. We’re not a couple of unreasonable parents but a diverse group,” Pohl said. He said the school district has transitioned “from bad to worse” in dealing with its special education students.
He asked Superintendent Wes Smith to take the complaint seriously and that he and the Concerned Parents Association, which he co-founded, are willing to meet with the district to resolve the issues and stay out of a courtroom to squelch the problems.
Smith said that the district is “confident and hopeful” in his staff, especially former Barrett Elementary Principal Lisa Atlas who is now heading the special education department. “We are going to do an exceptional job this day forward to meet the needs of our special education students,” Smith said. He said he could not comment further since the matter was being looked at by the California Department of Education and not the district office.
The complaint claims that the school district placed special needs students – including high-functioning autistic students – into mainstream classes with a one-on-one aide who has little training in dealing with autistic students. Or, the students received no support at all.
The alleged behavior by the district and employees goes against the Individuals with Disabilities Act, according to the parents group. The act is a law that was passed in 2004 that ensures services to children with disabilities and governs how states and public agencies provide early intervention, special education and related services to children.
The Morgan Hill for Concerned Parents Association’s lead lawyer Rony Sagy is requesting the California Department of Education conduct a thorough hands-on and on-site investigation of every claim.
The group also says that violations continuously occur at MHUSD, often in regard to a special needs’ student’s IEP, or Individualized Education Program, which is legally binding and outlines a student’s plan and services for the year.
“It seems the entire school district, systemically, is not identifying children with disabilities. Not only do they fail to do that … we’ve found evidence that after parents requested assessment in writing, teachers were refusing,” Sagy said. She added another example of a child whose STAR tests were proficient, which can be the case for high-functioning autistic children, and as a result they were not diagnosed on time and not diagnosed properly.
The Morgan Hill Concerned Parents Association awaits an response from the California Department of Education, which is expected in the next few weeks.
