Parent: school is breaking son’s contract

By DAVID HULSE

MONTICELLO, NY — One mother of a Monticello fourth grader says the district has broken a contract it made with her nine year old.

That breech, combined with reductions in state “accommodations,” historically given special-ed students taking crucial English assessment tests, will rob her son of the confidence he has built in his abilities since entering school.

The contract in question is called an individual education program or IEP. Upon entering school, her son’s diagnostic testing revealing a learning disability, dyslexia, which prevents the individual from properly processing written language images.

Complying with state law, the district developed an IEP for the boy, calling for all tests to be read to him, that he receive extra time for completing them, that he receives help with essays and preparation of written responses. With those accommodations, her son has maintained a near straight-A average.

“He is very intelligent and very conscious of his work,” she said.

The problem arose last February when state education department officials decided that most accommodations granted to learning disabled students would not be allowed in crucial English and math assessment testing given elementary students.

The tests provide data used in evaluating districts’ proficiency and repeated failures prompt state oversight in corrective actions.

Districts were supposed to amend IEP’s of their special-ed students accordingly to prepare them to address the exams without accommodations.

Mom, who we will call Carol and who has asked not to be identified by name, said the state ruling is unfair on the face of it, but worse yet, the district took no action to amend her son’s IEP. At an April meeting on the IEP, no changes were mentioned, she said, and none have ever taken place.

Instead of his IEP accommodations, her son was only to get additional time to complete the work.

“If he sits there for six hours, he won’t read it. This is like taking a handicapped athlete’s wheelchair away before a 10K race and giving him extra time to complete the course,” she said.

After complaining fruitlessly, she wrote to Monticello Superintendent Eileen Casey on January 14.

In return, district Pupil Personnel Services Director Stan Hersh told her on January 28 that the district was “obligated to comply with the [state] directives,” regarding accommodations.

Carol said those directives also included the state’s directive to amend IEP’s in preparation for this year’s tests.

This week, the fourth grade English Language Arts test was scheduled for Tuesday. Carol said there is no point holding him out of it.

“If he doesn’t take it, it looks like a zero. They say they want an accurate score, but he already has an IEP. It’s craziness,” she said.

Casey said Monday that the district is required to comply. She said she was familiar with the last year’s deadline to update the IEPs.

“It’s a large district. Our annual reviews began in the middle of last year. Many have already been completed,” she said.

Admitting that her fight would have been with the state had the district acted promptly, Carol said she would continue to fight the ruling at the “system” level. She believes other Monticello students must have been impacted by the ruling, but lacking a special education PTA in the district, she has had no way to contact them.

She asked that parents with similar concerns contact her representative, Danielle Thurber, at 845/565-1162, ext. 229.