Parents
aim to teach state a lesson
Dozens express concerns over
proposed changes to special education
Friday, January 20, 2006 • BY JOHN MOONEY •
Star-Ledger Staff
Maybe it's not your typical family
outing, but Evelyn and Ramon Delgado packed up their three
young children on Wednesday and drove to Trenton for
something dear to their hearts: special
education.
With two children diagnosed with autism,
the Woodbridge couple have become experts on the subject.
And inside the state Department of Education, they reeled
off details of "individualized education programs" and
"manifestation determinations."
"We thought they should see the children
most affected," said Ramon Delgado, his children's winter
coats piled high in his arms.
The Delgados were attending the state
Board of Education's public hearing on the New Jersey's
special-education code, recently revised to match federal
rules.
And while it can be dry stuff, there are
countless families like the Delgados who see their own
children in the chapters and subchapters of the inch-thick
document.
Take one provision of the proposed code
that has riled many parents. The proposal would cut
paperwork by allowing districts and parents to set in
writing only annual goals for a child, be they academic,
behavior or other skills, and waive the need for so-called
"short-term objectives."
On Wednesday, Ramon Delgado looked to his
own 9-year-old daughter, Eryn, as she played on a couch
outside the hearing.
Eryn has a high-functioning form of
autism known as Asperger's syndrome and attends a private
school, paid for by her home district. But the teacher left,
and she has missed four months of speech therapy, her father
said. Under the new rules, he said, another eight months
could pass before the problem is remedied.
"Boy, there would go the whole year for
my daughter," he said.
Last revised in 1999, the state code is
under review to bring it in line with the latest changes in
the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the
1975 legislation that drives much of special education
nationwide.
IDEA was reauthorized in 2004 with new
rules aimed at reducing some of the procedural and paperwork
requirements of the law, which are often criticized by
school districts and others as too cumbersome.
The new IDEA also gave New Jersey some
leeway in setting its own regulations, and it was those
changes that drew much of the crowd of more than 70 speakers
Wednesday night, most of them parents and their
advocates.
For many parents attending, any changes
that lessen requirements on districts also lessen families'
protections and control of their children's
education.
Under the proposal, for instance, New
Jersey would allow certain teachers and other personnel to
be excused from required meetings to discuss a child's
"individualized education program," the critical document
known as the IEP that sets a child's services.
It would also make it easier to suspend a
child from a school for misbehaving, including incidents in
which the misbehavior might be due to the disability
itself.
Denise Bouyer, whose 8-year-old daughter
has Down's syndrome, spoke of how her child was suspended
from her Willingboro kindergarten class after poking a
teacher with a pencil. She filed a request for a hearing,
but she had to keep her daughter out of school in the
meantime.
"When I tried to bring her back to
school, I was refused entry," she said.
Some of the proposals won parents'
backing, including a requirement that every district have a
parent advisory council. Another would reduce some of the
class sizes for students with disabilities.
But with many new requirements also come
added costs. For instance, school districts have complained
those smaller class sizes will be expensive.
Ewing Superintendent Raymond Broach said
his district would need to hire 14 teachers under the
proposed code. He put the total potential cost as high as
$2.5 million.
The code is still in the formal
discussion stages with the state board and is likely to have
another public hearing this spring.
John Mooney covers education. He may be reached at
jmooney@star ledger.com, or (973) 392-1548.
© 2006 The Star-Ledger. Used by NJ.com with
permission.
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