This has been Emailed to the North Lawrance Community Schools Board and the State of Indiana Deparment of Special Education as a Letter of concern for the students at Parkview Elementary.
Dear: North Lawrence Community School Board
The responsibility to ensure students are receiving a Free and Appropriate Public Education is entrusted to you by the families in your school district. Concerns are being voiced by families and community members for the educational needs of students with disabilities in your district.
Reports of Parkview Elementary being short staff in the special education classrooms. Resulting in One Special education teacher covering two self contained classrooms.
This is concerning as it impacts the students ability to access meaningful learning from a qualified teacher ( 511 IAC 7-36-2 Special education program personnel and 511 IAC 7-36-11 Caseload ) . Without a qualified teacher and a reasonable caseload our concern would be that the students' education would not be appropriate.
We have received reports of students in the self contained special education classrooms at Parkview Elementary not receiving specials such as art and music class like their peers in general education classes are receiving. This is concerning to us as the Students in self contained classrooms still have their rights under Least Restrictive Environment as outlined in 511 IAC 7-42-10 Least restrictive environment and delivery of special education and related services
(b) The public agency must do the following: (1) Take steps to make available to students with disabilities the variety of educational programs and services that are made available to nondisabled students served by the public agency, including the following: (A) Vocational education. (B) Art. (C) Music. (D) Industrial arts. (E) Consumer and homemaking education. (F) Field trips. (G) Convocations.
In Conclusion community members within your district have concerns and there is a need to work on building trust and communication with the special education families. We request that North Lawrence Community Schools take Immediate corrective actions and our recommendations are:
Hiring of Licensed teaching staff to bring staffing levels to an appropriate level for the caseload in special education services.
Ensure all students with disabilities have equal access to special classes as outlined in 511 IAC 7-42-10
Development of a parent advisory council, committee, task force, or group. As outlined in 511 IAC 7-36-1 Parent and community participation.
The creation of a Parent Liaison position within the NLCS special education department to work on strengthening Parent / School relationships.
Sincerely
Patrick Underwood
Board President / Lead Special Education Advocate
Community Inclusion Ambassadors Inc.
Phone: 812-329-0216 Email: PatrickU@ourcia.org
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