EDUCATING OUR MOST VULNERABLE STUDENTS

A School District’s Gag Rule

To prevent parents from sharing what services are available for children with special education needs, the LAUSD requires confidentiality.

“I commit to working closely with LAUSD OGC to understand and to modify any part of this policy (or practice) that is shown to be unfair to our most vulnerable students.”

- Scott Schmerelson on confidentiality clauses

Following a hiatus of over a year, the LAUSD’s Special Education Committee met on March 25th. After a very full agenda that included presentations by the Division of Special Education, a principal, a school psychologist, and the Community Advisory Committee (CAC), members of the public were given the opportunity to speak. Parents and activists weary from negotiating the bureaucracy during the COVID pandemic and long deprived of a platform to voice their concerns filled all of the available speaking spots. I used my time to share my recent experiences during the process to update my daughter’s Individualized Education Program (IEP):

I am a father of two daughters with special education needs. They both attend career transition centers in the Valley.

First of all, I would like to say how great it is that this committee is finally resurrected. I think that the last few callers show why it should have been active during the shutdown. If parent input could have been heard, perhaps some of the problems outlined by previous callers could have been avoided.

The return to school campuses is supposed to be a choice. For families who do not feel safe about having their children physically return to school, the district needs to ensure that distance learning is delivered in the best possible way. Throughout this pandemic, other districts have allowed Non-Public Agency (NPA) Behavior Intervention Implementation Specialists (BII) into students’ homes, but the LAUSD absolutely refuses to do this…