Special Education
Why Is This School District Ignoring The Needs Of Its Most Vulnerable Students?
LAUSD Board Members and the Superintendent do anything but listen as a plea is made on behalf of children with special education needs.
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Is there anyone that sees what’s going on?”
- Queensrÿche
With the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its resulting shutdowns still being felt, LAUSD students with special education needs are facing yet another major crisis as access to programs these students require is being cut. This new disaster is created by the district’s new Superintendent and could be ended with the direction of the Board of Education, but they would first have to understand the problem. With this in mind I made a plea on behalf of the district’s most vulnerable students at the start of the board’s closed session meeting last Tuesday:
In evaluating the Superintendent’s performance, it is important to look at how his stewardship of the district has affected not only students on the academic track, but also our most vulnerable children. All students deserve a chance to reach their full potential, including those whose education falls under the label of “special.” Those whose path does not include college deserve the same respect as those who can and want to pursue higher education.
As the Superintendent made his rounds of graduations during the last weeks of the school year, I hope he made the time to visit schools that exclusively serve those requiring special education services. Not only did these young adults deserve the Superintendent’s attention just as much as their typical peers but they also had a lot to teach him.
In a recent report on KCBS, the district told the reporter that special education classrooms are being closed next year because of “low enrollment,” but we all know that this is a half-truth. The fact is that this lack of demand has been manufactured by the district. The LAUSD is preventing…
