Before Monday’s special-call meeting of the Columbus Municipal School District Board of Trustees meeting, board president Jason Spears said he hoped the meeting — an open forum on the district’s special education program — would show the district’s efforts go beyond “checking the boxes.”
Based on what transpired during the 2 1/2-hour meeting, it is likely Spears left the meeting disappointed.
Parents of special-needs children painted a portrait of a special-education program is slow to respond to needs and quick to cite costs when requests are made. Meanwhile, the district’s special-education director said her job was to make sure the district was in compliance — which could be loosely interpreted as checking the boxes — while the district’s special education advisory committee has yet to make any recommendations to the board almost a year after it was assembled.
By law, schools have 60 days to complete that process and parents say that, without fail, those assessments have taken the full 60 days.
In 2015, an audit by the Mississippi Department of Education showed the district to be non-compliant with federal requirements in 21 areas.
To help bring the district into compliance, the board created the position of special-education director and Donna Jones was hired for that position in early 2016.
The board, responding to parents requests that they have more of a voice in their children’s education, also created an advisory board, made up of parents.
While the district was brought into compliance during the course of a few months, we fear that many of the concerns parents had then, still persist. Compliance is, of course, important, but simple compliance is a baseline, not a goal for any district that is serious about providing quality education for its special-needs students.
For parents of special-needs children, there is an urgency that requires prompt, effective action. When assessments and teaching plans for these students are delayed, so is progress.
Board members expressed frustration with the claim that improvements could not be made because of cost. The district has money, they said, and could respond to those requests.
The lack of a staff psychologist appears to be a key factor in the district’s inability to meet the needs of students in a timely fashion. There is no reason why the district should continue to operate without that position.
There is also no good reason why the advisory committee has yet not brought these issues to the attention of the board sooner. That is the whole purpose of the committee, after all.
The CMSD must not be content to check the boxes.
We urge the board to take whatever actions are needed to ensure the district’s special education program aspires to a higher standard.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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