CLAYTON 鈥 Having a separate school district for special education is failing students with disabilities in 最新杏吧原创 County, say Clayton parents who cite ongoing problems with the split system.
The Special School District of 最新杏吧原创 County was created by state law in the late 1950s and supported by a countywide levy to educate students with disabilities. The district operates a handful of schools, but most of its 23,000 students receive services in the county鈥檚 22 partnering school districts.
Since the creation of the special district, one of the few of its kind in the country, laws and practices have evolved toward more inclusivity for all students in a general education environment.
For years if not decades, parents in Clayton and other districts have complained that they feel their children are not getting the same experience as their peers at school. And they don鈥檛 feel heard by administrators in their home districts, who defer to the special school district.
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鈥淲e are not parents that drop our kids off at 8:15 and pick them up at 3:30 and expect miracles,鈥 said Cordell Whitlock, whose daughter with special needs attends Clayton High. 鈥淲hat we do expect is an environment of collaboration, of respect, where these kids can be the best possible students they can be. Our kids are delayed. The expectation is still that they are going to learn.鈥
About 270 students qualify for special education in Clayton, or 11% of the enrollment.
鈥淲hy can鈥檛 (Clayton) deliver these services to our children directly?鈥 asked Naga Yalla, parent of a Clayton High freshman. 鈥淲e would do away with bureaucracy, and probably have more accountability and transparency.鈥
Last summer, the Clayton School District hired an outside consultant to host conversations with parents and administrators and then make recommendations for improvements. The Clayton school board heard the report at its meeting Wednesday.
There has been a 鈥渟ignificant breakdown鈥 in communication and trust between parents and administrators, said the report鈥檚 author Thurma DeLoach, a former administrator in the Kirkwood School District.
鈥淲hat (parents) want is to actually be able to see, hear and feel the administrative teams within Clayton leaning in, stepping up and being engaged in the special education process, not turning to say it鈥檚 SSD鈥檚 responsibility to figure that out,鈥 DeLoach told the board. 鈥淪pecial education cannot be separate. It works within general education.鈥
The parents鈥 top demand is for Clayton School District to create a new full-time administrator position focused on special education and coordinating with the special school district.
鈥淭he biggest frustration is they have the exact same people working on the problem that have been blocking progress all along,鈥 said Clayton parent Tahnee Whitlock. 鈥淲e need to find some way to completely divorce ourselves from SSD if SSD continues to have the level of power it has in our kids鈥 education.鈥
Leaders for both Clayton and special school district said at the board meeting that they were committed to working together on the parents鈥 concerns.
鈥淚 can truly say as a superintendent that we are not there, but there are some things we need to do to be able to get there. We鈥檙e going to take those recommendations and make the next steps,鈥 said Michael Maclin, superintendent of the special school district as of last month, when he replaced Elizabeth Keenan who had been on administrative leave.
In a resolution passed Wednesday, the Clayton school board 鈥渁cknowledges the Parent Engagement Facilitation Report and reiterates its commitment to developing and maintaining a robust and collaborative partnership with Special School District of 最新杏吧原创 County and its commitment to ensuring the education of students with disabilities in the School District of Clayton aligns with our strategic plan goals of being a place for everyone to grow as learners in head and heart.鈥