Last updated Sunday 18 April 2004 09:12 PM

An Open Letter to the Kanawha County  Board of Education:

Dear Board Members,

I am the mother of the student who received the large settlement about which the media has been having a field day.  It might surprise you to know that I agree that spending over ½ million dollars on one student is an outrageous violation of stewardship of public funds.  In fact, it might also surprise you to know that I never asked for KCS to provide round the clock programming for my son.  It was offered to me by KCS (in the form of a residential placement) when KCS acknowledged they did not know how to teach my son.   In fact, KCS took me to due process to change my son’s placement to a 24/7 program.  Had you attended the meetings when that was proposed, you would know I objected vehemently.  As I wrote in a letter to Dr. Duerring, I simply wanted my son to graduate with his class, a very cost effective alternative to a residential program, but not an alternative KCS was willing to entertain.

It is the thinking about what to do in the future to prevent this incredible waste of money where we differ.  As I am sure you, and the professional educators understand, there are five aspects of a student’s program that influence the outcome.  Those five characteristics are the administration, the curriculum, the teacher, the student and the family.   Why we differ in our thinking so much is that I have an intense interest in trying to understand how my son could be so incredibly successful for 10 years in public schools and then have him fail so totally beginning in one semester.

It is KCS’ ongoing unwillingness to concede that some part of the pentad other than the student (and maybe his family) has led to the abysmal failure in my son’s education that I do not understand.  Where was the Board’s outcry demanding to know what was being done to understand why the high school he attended him was failing so miserably?

First of all, my son’s behavior is directly a result of his disability.  What could possibly be the explanation for the behavior of a teacher, who stood by and watched while my son’s peers made him lick bird manure off a car window?  Or of the principal who said he knew about the bird manure incident but what else could be expected when my son attended regular classes?   Or a school board member who pounded the podium yelling how embarrassed he was to have to educate my son (let me finish his allegation:  “because of his autism”).   Or a counselor having my son’s friends throw books at him and kick him as part of reality therapy that has never been proven to work for even one person with autism)?    Or the assistant area administrator who said that because of my son’s autism, he’d never be allowed back in Kanawha County Schools?

If any of those actions sound reasonable to you, then you do not understand the mission of public education,  the federal laws that support all education,  nor best practices for educating students with challenging behaviors.   Had I not talked with parents, professors and teachers from other school districts where students with challenging behaviors are being successfully educated with their, had I not read the current best practices of how to educate students with autism in fully inclusive programs, had I not talked with experts in the field to know that not only can students with autism and challenging behaviors be fully included safely and successfully, but that such inclusion results in increased test scores for all students, then perhaps Mr. Thaw’s rantings and Mr. Luoni’s ignorance would be tenable.   But I know better.  And if I, a mere parent,  can know better, the question I would pose to you is, why do you not insist that the professional educators in KCS (who collectively are paid far more than the $460,000 my son received) implement these best practices so that ALL students can be successful?

I ask that you expect much of the professionals not just for my son and others with autism, but for the student with learning disabilities who never learns to read on a high school level; for the student who is blind who never accesses the regular curriculum through talking books; for the child with a mental impairment who is relegated to a segregated environment with no expectations except expensive babysitting;  for the child in a wheelchair who has to fight for an aide to be with her so she can be included in the rich environment of a regular classroom.   

Further, I challenge you to find out why so many students with disabilities drop out…and I plead with you not to assume it’s because the child and family is somehow at fault.  Ask for a forum where people with disabilities and their family members can safely tell you their experiences in Kanawha County Schools.   Scientific thought, which is taught in schools,  is second nature to me.  I beg you to practice that and to collect the data before you draw your conclusions.

If you have no interest in doing that, then I’d ask you to search your souls and ask yourselves if you really believe KCS should have to educate all students to the best of their abilities, even those students with disabilities. If you honestly don’t believe that, then please, resign from the school board.  If you can honestly say you do believe all students can learn and that KCS has an obligation to educate all students to the best of their  abilities, then demand that KCS administrators provide oversight to principals so that segregation doesn’t happen and bigotry against students with disabilities is not acceptable.   Insist that programs be in place so that all students have access to stimulating environments.   Demand that they not be separate environments.  And demand that they implement programs that allow these exciting, inclusive environments to be safe for all students.  And demand that they implement safe, stimulating, inclusive environments where ALL students make significant progress.   And if the professional administrators don’t know of any programs that allow all that to happen, then demand to know why they’re not keeping up with best practices.  Have them contact Rob Horner at the University of Oregon; or Lou Brown at the University of Wisconsin;  or Glen Dunlap at the University of South Florida.   And recognize that those inclusive and safe programs are cost effective.

And despite utilizing best practices, which KCS is not currently doing,  should there be problems, demand to know not how to get rid of the offending student, but rather how to change the environment so that that student and ALL students can be successful.   Then, you will truly understand the mission of Kanawha County Schools.

Anne Gentry