Extra Credit

Family of special-education student considering suing Arlington school district over injuries

Although he is outgoing and has a ready smile, Peyton Jarrett spends most of his time at home now as he recovers from head and facial injuries, bladder damage and surgery to repair an implanted device that helps prevent seizures.

The Bowie High School student, now 18, was diagnosed at age 4 with Lennox-Gastaut Syndrome, a disorder that manifests itself in multiple seizures and mental impairment. (Photo: Peyton Jarrett and his mother Patty Jarrett. ST/Brandon Wade)

But his current problems are the aftermath of something that happened at school this spring.

On April 4, Peyton was pushed down a flight of 10 concrete steps outside Bowie by another special-education student while a district employee was distracted, according to a police report filed after his mother, Patty Jarrett, saw video taken by a surveillance camera. 

It shows Peyton's wheelchair clattering to the bottom of the stairs with Peyton restrained inside, appearing to land head-first on the pavement at the bottom of the stairs.

Patty Jarrett and her husband, Hayden, say they plan to sue the Arlington school district, hoping to recoup expenses such as the cost of his medical care, ongoing nursing services and the price of a new $8,000 wheelchair.

School administrators have apologized in a letter that reads: "The AISD deeply regrets what happened to Peyton. It was an unfortunate accident that we take very seriously. The district is currently working to address this issue and make sure this doesn't happen again."

Read more in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Shirley Jinkins

Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2012/07/02/4075219/family-of-special-ed-student-considers.html#storylink=cpy

 

Texas bill would allow parents time off for special education meetings

Here's an interesting education bill filed this week. Rep. Sylvester Turner's bill would allow custodial parents of a student in a special education program up to 10 hours of leave time a year to meet with school officials.

Children in special education programs tend to have a series of meetings throughout the year, as required by law. Parents, teachers and other officials must meet periodically to discuss a child's individual education plan and to review the services provided to the student.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

Educators group to host parent workshops on Saturday

The National Alliance of Black School Educators (NABSE) is hosting a day of workshops for area parents as part of the group's 38th annual conference.

One workshop at the Parent Day Summit will cover what's new in special education and how to understand and monitor your child's Individualized Education Plan (IEP). Other workshops will cover topics such as parents' rights under No Child Left Behind, how to be engaged at school, Texas academic standards and student and family health issues.

Keynote speaker is Zollie Stevenson Jr., former director of student achievement and school accountability programs at the U.S. Department of Education, responsible for Title I and Title III programs. He is now an associate professor of educational leadership at Bowie State University in Maryland.

About 350 people are pre-registered for the event, from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at the Fort Worth Convention Center. Onsite registration begins at 8 a.m. Cost is $90 (includes lunch). The Summit was organized by NABSE board member Anthony White Sr., a retired administrator for Newark public schools who is now chief executive officer of Parental Involvement Exchange.

Jessamy Brown

New bill would give choice to special education parents

A bill filed Tuesday by Texas Sen. Florence Shapiro, R-Plano, would give the families of students diagnosed with autism or autism spectrum disorder the ability so send their child to any school in a district or a district outside of the one where they live. 

The Autism Services Accessibility Program would also allow them to get services from a private institution for students with autism, provided it met certain specifications.

Provisions in the bill allow for state funding to follow the student. To qualify children must be ages 3 to 11.

Shapiro (pictured from her Website) introduced similar legislation in 2007.

- Traci Shurley

Arlington parents forming PTSA for special education

The Arlington Special Education Parent Teacher Student Association, a new group, will have an organizational meeting Tuesday night at the school district’s Mac Bernd Professional Development Center, 1111 W. Arbrook Boulevard.

The organization is open to anyone. Its purpose is to give families with children in the district’s various special education programs a place to come together for support and to share resources, said Laura Wright, one of the organizers. The meeting starts at 6 p.m. Those not able to attend can find out more about the group by sending an e-mail to aseptsa@yahoo.com.

- Traci Shurley

Tarrant County schools eligible for about $119 million in stimulus

If President Obama signs the stimulus package as expected today, Tarrant County schools could be in line to receive $119 million over the next two years. This House Committee on Education & Labor blog has a state-by-state list of district level estimates for special education and programs for low-income students.

The original stimulus package had targeted about $206 million for Tarrant County schools, about $70 million of which was for modernization and technology upgrades. The package now has $53.6 billion for construction and modernization efforts nationwide, which will be given to districts based on state and federal formulas. About $650 million will be available nationwide for technology grants.

Here's a breakdown of what area schools could receive as estimated by Congress:

District 
Aledo                                $594,000
Arlington                           $25,371,000
Azle                                 $1,747,000
Birdville                            $7,594,000
Burleson                           $1,775,000
Carroll                              $1,364,000
Castleberry                       $1,413,000
Crowley                            $2,813,000
Eagle Mountain-Saginaw    $1,798,000
Everman                           $1,533,000
Fort Worth                        $49,220,000
Grapevine-Colleyville          $3,653,000
Hurst-Euless-Bedford         $6,717,000
Keller                               $4,410,000
Kennedale                        $847,000
Lake Worth                      $1,098,000
Mansfield                         $4,336,000
Northwest                        $1,727,000
White Settlement             $1,594,000

- Traci Shurley and Eva-Marie Ayala

Special-needs students must be their own advocate in college

Students with learning disabilities are entitled to various help while they are in public schools under federal law. Often times, they've made it through the system with parents and teachers keeping close tabs on them and their needs. But what happens in college? The Washington Post reports that nearly one in nine high school students with learning disabilities go on to college, up from about one in 100 in 1987. Colleges must provide assistance, but it is up to students to disclose their disability. Most don't tell their schools they need help, the paper found.

-Eva-Marie Ayala

Tarrant and national reaction to AYP results

Why are schools from Tarrant County to Miami to Seattle having problems meeting the federal standards set forth in No Child Left Behind? It's surely not because educators nationwide don't know what they're doing.

Officials say it is becoming increasingly difficult for schools to meet the standards as the target passing rates increase and, in Texas, as rules for testing special-education students take effect.

Fort Worth Superintendent Melody Johnson: "That is not an excuse for poor performance, by any means. But the standards have raised 20 percent since I walked through the door [in 2005]. At that rate, it sets schools up for failure. ... I don’t know how you’re going to have any school standing."

Claude Cunningham, associate superintendent for curriculum and instruction in Mansfield: "The more factors you have to deal with, the harder it is to address every one of them equally.

DeEtta Culbertson, Texas Education Agency spokeswoman, said high schools typically have more difficulty meeting AYP standards largely because only 10th-grade testing results count toward AYP status: "What we’ve seen in state-level accountability is that by the time kids get to 10th grade they’re not really putting forth a lot of effort on those TAKS tests, because in 10th grade it doesn’t count toward promotion or graduation."

Jim Rex, South Carolina schools superintendent, as quoted by The New York Times: “The law is diagnosing schools that just have the sniffles with having pneumonia."

Robert Linn, a University of Colorado professor emeritus who is one of the nation’s foremost testing experts: “If, no matter how hard teachers work, the school is labeled as a failure, that’s just demoralizing.”

U.S. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings: “We passed the best law we could seven years ago. There’s wide recognition that this is something we need to address.”

-Patrick M. Walker

Tarrant schools not alone in struggles to meet federal standards

Eva-Marie Ayala and Traci Shurley report that the Fort Worth, Arlington, Crowley, Everman, Kennedale and White Settlement school districts missed federal academic standards this year, after more special-education students took a modified version of the TAKS as required by law.

In all, 34 public high schools in Tarrant County missed federal Adequate Yearly Progress standards, which gauge whether public schools and school districts are making gains in reading and math. The report also considers high school graduation rates and attendance in earlier grade levels.

Many schools were penalized for low passing rates among special-education students, according to the state’s preliminary 2008 AYP report released Tuesday.

The list spanned the county, including Bowie High School in southeast Arlington and Trinity High School in the Hurst-Euless-Bedford school district.

Colleyville Heritage High School missed AYP standards because attendance among lower-income students on math test day was too low. The school needed 95 percent participation but had only 92 percent. The difference amounted to two students.

The AYP report is tied to the federal No Child Left Behind law, which instructs schools that accept Title I money for low-income students to have 100 percent proficiency in reading and math by 2014.

More to come in Wednesday's Star-Telegram.

But the struggles are far from limited to North Texas. Here's what The New York Times had to say:

Across the nation, far more schools failed to meet the federal law’s testing targets than in any previous year, according to new state-by-state data. And in California and some other states, the problem traces in part to the fact that officials chose to require only minimal gains in the first years after the law passed and then very rapid annual gains later. One researcher likens it to the balloon payments that can sink homebuyers.

Part of the reason for the troubles was that the states gambled the law would have been softened when it came up for reauthorization in 2007, but efforts to change it stalled. This year Congress made no organized attempt to reconsider the law. With the nation facing urgent challenges, including two wars and economic turmoil, it could be a year or more before the new president can work with Congress to rewrite the law.

Read the article here.

-Patrick M. Walker

VBS with a twist

Here's something you don't see every day. From the Austin American-Statesman:

Vacation Bible school for the deaf gives children chance to focus on religion

-Patrick M. Walker