DPS violated federal rules, delayed services
Denver Public Schools violated the rights of some students with disabilities in the way it made decisions about whether they would get support from a teacher’s aide, an investigation by the Colorado Department of Education found.
Instead of allowing a team that includes teachers, specialists and the students’ parents to make that determination, as is required by federal rules, district officials decided whether students would get paraprofessional support “outside of the team process,” the investigation found.
That slowed things down because it required more layers of approval, often leaving students to “wait weeks and months to receive the service of a paraprofessional,” according to a written decision obtained by Chalkbeat that is expected to be made public next week.
In addition, the district was too vague when writing students’ “individualized education plans,” or IEPs, the decision says. Instead of specifying that students receive support from a paraprofessional, the district used vague or cryptic phrases such as “adult support” or “line-of-sight supervision.”
“When paraprofessional services are noted, it is in very general terms,” the decision says, “and does not provide sufficient information regarding the frequency, duration, or location.”
The investigation was prompted by a complaint filed with the Colorado Department of Education by the nonprofit organization Advocacy Denver on behalf of five Denver students.
Scotty Sims’s 7-year-old daughter was one of them. Sims’ daughter, who Chalkbeat is not naming at her mother’s request, has a rare genetic disorder. She is non-verbal, and Sims said she needs a paraprofessional who understands the limited sign language she uses to communicate: signs for “eat,” “drink,” “walk.” If her daughter isn’t understood, Sims said, she gets frustrated and acts out.
Her daughter is also prone to eating objects such as chalk and paper clips, Sims said, and she needs a paraprofessional to watch her every minute to make sure she doesn’t. Sims thought that’s what her daughter’s IEP team decided on, but she said the plan was changed without her knowing to say her daughter needed “arm’s-length supervision” instead.
The plan did not specify who was supposed to provide that supervision, Sims said. As a result, her daughter did not have a dedicated paraprofessional for her kindergarten year.
“Because of that, she ate dangerous objects,” Sims said. “She did a lot of selfharming and got hurt. She regressed.”
The Colorado Department of Education is requiring Denver Public Schools to submit a proposed corrective action plan by Aug. 15. It must then turn in a more detailed plan for “eliminating the paraprofessional approval process” by Aug. 30, a move meant to ensure that students’ individualized education plans are followed.