Report: District needs to address deficiencies in special education program offerings

Parents approach board for answers

Mars Area School District officials say they are working to correct deficiencies in the district’s special education program found during a 2017 state audit, some of which were cited in a report five years earlier.

The district’s biggest issue both times is that special education students are not being taught in the “least restrictive environment,” according to the audit.

The district also is out of compliance in parent and staff training, but does not need to work on a corrective action plan for those items, the report said.

Mars Area also was out of compliance on the “least restrictive environment” and parent training in a 2012 audit.

The superintendent at that time, William Pettigrew, is now on the school board.

Least Restrictive Environment is a provision in the federal Disabilities Education Act, which requires schools to educate students with disabilities, as much as possible, with non-disabled students.

Special education students cannot be removed from regular classrooms unless it is not possible to teach them there, even with special help and services.

In other words, the law requires students to be mainstreamed as much as possible, and it requires school districts to do everything possible to keep them in regular classrooms.

Superintendent Wes Shipley said the district hired a firm, Keystone Consulting, to run the department when the former director retired last year, and will eventually return to running the department in-house.

The company is being paid at a rate of a $500 a day, according to district officials.

“We acknowledge that there is a lot of room for improvement,” Mr. Shipley said. “We are working with the experts and the state to continuously improve.”

Mars Area could lose some or all of its state funding for special education if the state does not approve a corrective action plan.

But parents of special education students told board members March 13 that they need to know what is happening.

“You are creating an ‘us versus them’ situation in the community,” said Megan Lenz. “Tell us what you are thinking.”

Sandy Smith said the district needs to implement a “team environment,” where parents and educators can share ideas.

“As a district, as a community, we need to do better,” she said. “Time does not stand still for them while a plan is being implemented.”

Mr. Shipley said administrators have met twice with the staff and twice with the intermediate unit. “Improving our least restrictive environment is our top priority.”

Julia Konitzky said that board members and Mr. Shipley should address parents’ concerns when they are brought up at meetings. “The silence of this board has been deafening in this community,” she said. “Do you want that reputation? I chose this place. I’m regretting it.”

Andrew Briggs said that the district sends too many special education students to other schools, which amounts to saying, ‘Here’s money. You handle this problem for us because we don’t want to,’ he said. “I don’t want to have to move because my son isn’t going to get what he needs here.”

Kathy Budzilek, whose husband was briefly superintendent between Mr. Pettigrew and Mr. Shipley, said parents are not respected by board members and administrators.

“You have to think about the parents. You have to give them a venue,” she said. “It’s a matter of what you all find important. Invest the money in the kids. Invest the money in the staff.”

Board president J. Dayle Ferguson said parents will be informed about the plan when it is time.

“The plan is being worked on by administrators. The framework is there. They are going to bring us recommendations,” she said.

“When there is something to share, we will share it. But the right people are doing the right things with the right information.”