STATE OF REPAIR: WE MUST FIX SPECIAL ED
Let’s work together to make things right
Acautious sense of vindication is sinking in. Amid the collective shock, embarrassment and sting of betrayal, parents like me are quietly sighing with relief as we learn how Texas has broadly limited access to special education to 8.5 percent for years.
You see, we knew something was terribly wrong. The fight for guaranteed rights has simply been too hard, for too long. Parent advocacy has fallen too frequently on deaf ears. Decisions have too often clearly been made before we walked through Individualized Education Program (IEP) meeting doors. And, parent stories are too eerily similar across Texas and beyond.
Kids like mine have been denied access to special education so systematically, so consistently, that it had to be a plan. But if it was a plan, that could mean that federal special education law was overtly not being followed. No one parent wants to believe that could ever happen. Tens of thousands of parents could never have guessed we were purposefully put in the same boat.
So often parents of children with special needs feel isolated. It’s tough to speak up, admit you need help, connect with others. How crushing to learn we are among at least 250,000 Texas children and their families, over the course of more than a decade, ironically united in our isolation, unknowingly sharing the hardships of outright denial. How heartbreaking to realize the emotional toll on our kids is also a communal result.
Facing continual shutout, many parents accept this is an innately winless battle. However, others still choose to take up the fight, ask for evaluations, expect the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) free and appropriate public education (FAPE) pledge to be delivered. And, for parents like me, lucky enough to eventually get our kids into special education, the exhausting covert war of monitoring proper IEP implementation and scrapping as collaboratively as possible to maintain a minimum of services and eligibility drag on.
Parents too often have believed our child is regrettably on the cusp — not “severe” enough to need specialized help, yet not “typical” enough to thrive without it. We didn’t understand a universal line had been drawn limiting access.
An arbitrary threshold demands schools pick and choose. Without the evidence of an evaluation, so many
children are held too long in what has become the intervention gap — too often a no man’s land for struggling learners, and plainly part of the gatekeeping system that has kept Texas schools in compliance. Promising tools like Response to Intervention (RTI) have woefully become integral to the denial process, contributing further to the frustration of wellmeaning parents and educators who continue to play by the rules.
The premise of IDEA is free, appropriate and individualized education for our kids. And the promise of IDEA for families is authentic parent engagement. Both have been refused, creating a complex mix of underserved children, disillusioned moms and dads, and overwhelmed teachers.
My own two kids face autism, dyslexia and other learning and attention issues. But thanks to Brian Rosenthal’s courageous reporting, I’ve felt led this past week to finally focus on forgiveness. I no longer need to ask why the battle to get the right help at school has been so hard. Someone made the wrong decision. And it hurts. No need to wait for an apology or even an acknowledgement — I can let it go and move ahead. I can choose to trust that justice will be done, which frees me up to focus on next steps. With truth in view and a clean slate in hand, I feel empowered to move forward and work collectively toward solutions.
I’ve seen many spurned, yet optimistic parents these past few days exchanging emails and posts about coming together. How can we dig deep, put frustration aside and collaborate with our schools, lawmakers and media to highlight, unpack and fix this thing? If we respond as a united front — parents, educators, advocates and community leaders – we can be the positive voice of change.
Despite what’s happened, it’s not too late for meaningful parent participation. And this go-’round, families can expect with great hope to be a cherished part of the team. Pollard is a resident of Dallas.