Montgomery County Public Schools can go through with a controversial plan to eliminate special education centers for students in middle and high schools, the Maryland Board of Education ruled Wednesday.
The plan will phase out the centers over the next six years. The more than 600 special ed students now attending them will be allowed to continue, but no new students are being assigned to the centers.
The centers at the elementary level aren’t affected by the plan.
The board denied an appeal by several parents of children who attend the centers, saying that although Superintendent Jerry D. Weast violated a rule by failing to submit policy changes to the local board by Sept. 30, adequate comment time was given on his proposal. Weast proposed the plan in his fiscal 2008 budget, released in December. A revised proposal was publicized in January, and the local board adopted the budget on Feb. 13, according to the state board’s ruling.
As a result of that two-month window and public comments issued on the closure of the learning centers, the appellants failed to establish “that they were prejudiced by the local board’s violation” of its own policies, the state board said.
Weast and other county special education officials have contended that the centers, which operate inside elementary, middle and high schools, are disproportionately filled by black and Latino students and fail to meet the academic needs of children.
“We want to move to a more inclusive model of education,” local board spokesman Brian Edwards told TheExaminer on Wednesday. “We can not do that with these self-contained learning centers.”
Joan Taylor, whose second-grade son has autism and cannot be with large groups of children, was one of the parents who filed the appeal. She said that although some centers might be struggling, the one her son attends has helped him achieve.
“He’s had teachers that totally get it,” Taylor said, adding that she plans to speak with lawyers to determine her next step.
Elementary school students, such as Taylor’s son, will be mainstreamed into regular school when they reach middle school, and the county will work to ensure that they receive “an appropriate level of support,” Edwards said.
Taylor said she feared what could happen when her son reaches middle school.
“He’s not going to feel comfortable in a general education class,” she said.
