NORFOLK
More than 125 parents, educators and advocates for the disabled turned out for a hearing Wednesday night at Norview High School to protest possible changes to state special education regulations.
Many were upset with state Department of Education proposals to reduce the control parents would have over services provided to their children. Under the new regulations, schools could cut off special education for a child without the agreement of parents.
Cynthia Mosley is the mother of a disabled 8 -year-old who attends Grassfield Elementary in Chesapeake.
"I am not just Noah's mother," she said. "I'm also his nurse, teacher and advocate 24 hours a day. I do not wish to relinquish my rights."
Mosley said that for the past two years, she has had to fight to keep physical and occupational therapy part of the plan for her son, who uses switches and eye gaze to communicate. He has a seizure disorder, cerebral palsy and mental retardation.
If the proposed plan were to be in effect, they would have had little recourse, she said.
The changes were spurred by updates to the federal law governing special education, the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.
"There are areas where, traditionally, Virginia has exceeded federal requirements," said state Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle. "This was an opportunity to look at those and make recommendations to come more in line with the federal regulations."
The proposed changes also would affect procedures on discipline, transfer students and planning for the transition to life after high school. They would reduce the number of progress reports required for special education students and would narrow the diagnosis of developmental delays to children from ages 2 to 5, instead of from 2 to 8.
The Virginia Office for Protection and Advocacy, which serves people with disabilities, has called the proposed regulations troubling because of their effect on parental rights. Gov. Timothy M. Kaine also wrote a letter to the state Board of Education in March voicing reservations about changes to parental consent and progress reports.
So far, the state has received more than 5,000 comments, Pyle said.
The Norfolk hearing was the sixth of nine the Department of Education is holding around the state to solicit public opinion. Comments will be accepted until June 30. Any changes will have to be approved by the Board of Education, probably this fall.
At Wednesday's hearing, 53 people signed up to speak.
Nearly all spoke out against multiple changes, including Norfolk School Board member Stephen W. Tonelson. He said the board believes the changes could lower standards statewide. But there is disagreement, even within school systems.
Norfolk Public Schools' senior director of special education services spoke in support of the changes.
"School systems should not be required to provide services to children who do not need them," Joan H. Anderson said.
Lauren Roth, (757) 222-5133, lauren.roth@pilotonline.com
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You were defending the 65 BUSINESS DAY timeline
You were justifying keeping VA's 65 business day timeline, which equates to about 90 calendar days. The federal timeline is 60 calendar days, *unless the state has a timeline already* (paraphrased). They should have stated, "which is 60 calendar days or less." So states like VA with their 90 day timelines are off the hook. I think that is wrong. I'm sure school evaluators in other states also think they are overburdened, but they will be expected to complete their evaluations in 60 calendar days.
I believe you stated that VA evaluators NEED 65 business days (~90 calendar days), even though the federal standard is 60 calendar days. It seems that you are agreeing with VA's extended timeline; I am not agreeing with it.
I don't remember saying that
I don't remember saying that the 60 day timeline should be extended and I do not think that is the case. I am saying that it takes this long some months b/c there are tons of evals. and not enough evaluators. I have no idea how other states work as I have only worked in VA. We are always short thanks to some budget crisis and we never seem to have enough individuals to complete the work. Other states may have enough licensed individuals, may not do the extensive testing that we seem to do or may not identify kids as readily as VA schools. Again, having only worked in VA, I can only offer my opinion for this state.
To "my opinion"
How is it that other states can complete evaluations in a much shorter timeline? Surely you don't mean that those states also don't have a lot of evaluations to complete? Do you think that Virginia has many more evaluations to complete with not enough evaluators, and thus should have the extra time beyond the 60 calendar days? I doubt that is the case.
Slow on evals.
I can tell you exactly why the state uses such a timeline as I have done thousands of evals. myself. The problem is that we are overwhelemed with the number of evals., meetings and paperwork that need to be completed for each child. Every city I have ever worked for needed to hire several more professionals. I don't think it is a matter of feeling superior about the evaluators or the evals., just a lack of individuals to complete the work. I have always tried to get the evals done in a timely manner, but it is almost impossible some months. The sheer number of recommended evals. to be completed in a school year would probably astonish you.
how about exceeding the federal requirements here?
"There are areas where, traditionally, Virginia has exceeded federal requirements," said state Department of Education spokesman Charles Pyle. "This was an opportunity to look at those and make recommendations to come more in line with the federal regulations." Why not "come more in line" with other federal regulations, such as those that require initial sped evals (and then by default all other sped evals) to be completed in 60 CALENDAR days? Why does VA apparently think it's just fine to exploit a loophole in the federal regs that allows states to set their own timelines for that (the 60-calendar-day requirement is only if the state doesn't have a timeline)? Does VA really feel its evaluations are so superior that students here have to wait 65 BUSINESS days which equates to over 90 calendar days? The justification said that they didn't want to disturb the longstanding tradition. Yet VA wants to overturn the longstanding tradition of parental consent! Please, please, please tell us why VA allows its evaluators to take so long to complete evals? Why can't they be done in 60 calendar days? Plenty of other states can manage that? Are we so slow down here in Virginia that we s
He just sounds slow
My son was in speech therapy from the time he was 3. In middle school it was the recommendation of therapist that he stop. I was shocked and asked why. I was told he was 70% comprehensible and that was enough. I asked if that was going to be enough to get him a job. She then agreed to keep him in. He is now 19 and graduating. He is still having trouble getting work because of his speech. He is 97% comprehensible. If I had been forced to take that recommendation he wouldn't even have a chance at work. He was an A B student his last 2 years of school in regular classes so it's not intelligence.