Why Should Delaware Care?
Earlier this month, multiple families and educators spoke during a town hall meeting about their concerns with the state of Delaware’s public education for students with disabilities. The meeting showed a clear divide between what parents and school districts view as adequate resources and goals for students with disabilities.
Roughly 50 parents gathered at a Middletown firehouse earlier this month to express their concerns about the goals and resources devoted to their kids’ special education programs within local school districts.
Many of the parents shared a frustration about what they described as a disconnect between their children’s academic progress and the individualized education plans designed to support them. Others raised concerns about access to services and communication with school officials.
The town hall, which drew families from multiple Delaware school districts, was initially prompted by concerns that the Appoquinimink School District would reduce hours for its summer school and extended school year program – both of which help eligible students with disabilities to retain knowledge during the summer break.
The discussion also followed a year of national conversations regarding education access and quality for students with disabilities. Fueling that conversation was a Trump administration decision Tuesday to move federal special education policy away from the U.S. Department of Education and into the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
‘The school system has become a game’
Melissa DeFlaviis’s daughter will be starting the fourth grade at the Red Clay Consolidated School District next school year and has a “working memory issue,” which DeFlaviis says predisposes her to having a learning disability.
While her 9-year-old daughter is in third grade, DeFlaviis said she only reads at a first-grade level. She said her daughter’s individualized education plan (IEP) goal is to be able to write two sentences.
DeFlaviis said she believes the goal is “well below” the standard goal for a third grader.
Red Clay Consolidated School District spokesperson Alva Mobley said in a statement to Spotlight Delaware the district cannot comment on matters involving individual students.
Mobley did note that IEP teams “work collaboratively” with families to develop individualized goals based on each student’s present levels of performance, among other areas.
“Because IEP goals are individualized, there is no single IEP goal that is considered standard for a particular grade level,” Mobley said.
DeFlaviis said she is told her daughter is making adequate progress with her IEP goals. But she disagrees because of her daughter’s report card results, and has hired a tutor to help her daughter improve.
Because of DeFlaviis’s pushback over the district’s goals for her daughter, she said it feels like the “school system has become a game, and I am teaching myself how to play.”
Mobley also said IEP progress reports reflect growth toward individualized goals, while report cards generally reflect performance relating to grade-level standards. Progress in one area may not always directly correspond to changes in the other, she said.
Despite resources, parents struggle
Federal law requires school districts to reimburse families for private services like tutoring from a certified educator when the district cannot provide an appropriate education that aligns with the student’s IEP needs.
Still, some parents of children receiving district-paid services claim there are difficulties ensuring their children are not marked absent for receiving those services.
Joe Ventura, an Appoquinimink School District parent, has two autistic children who were both diagnosed before reaching 3 years old.
Ventura said his son requires private tutoring during school hours, often missing in-school learning as a result, at a location across the street from his school.
Although these services are paid for by the Appoquinimink School District, Ventura said he has had to “fight” with the school’s administration because his son is often marked absent from or late to school.
“They mark him absent or late, because, ‘Oh, it’s not an official document coming from the tutor,’” Ventura said, “But you’re the district paying for the tutor.”
When asked about Ventura’s experience, Appoquinimink Executive Director of Student Services and Special Education Edmond Gurdo said absences such as these are approved and are noted as approved in the student information system.
Families like Ventura’s would need to follow the district’s absence approval process, which includes submitting an absence request form. The school office then has its own process to properly document the submission.
Gurdo noted the process “can take time depending on when documents are submitted and the updates are made within the student information system.”
Trying to meet students’ needs
States must verify that all special educators are fully certified or enrolled in alternative certification programs when they apply for the federal funds that help school districts provide special education, as reported by K-12 Dive.
Delaware also requires specialized certification for teachers who work with a certain percentage of students with autism in the classroom.
These standards have left districts like Appoquinimink “significantly constrained” in their ability to recruit amid the ongoing, nationwide teacher shortage, said Kristi Peters, the Appoquinimink director of special education.
Separate district constraints around transportation and meal service were behind Appoquinimink’s decision to cut back on its summer programs – the change that had initially sparked outrage from parents of students with disabilities – from four to three days per week, Peters said.
Still, she said the program will maintain “students’ access to their specially designed instruction and required services.”
Peters also noted that discussions about those summer changes began during the Appoquinimink Board of Education’s January meeting and continued “through subsequent conversations with stakeholders.”
The feeling of being constrained by state laws and certification requirements was also discussed during the Middletown firehouse meeting by Sharon Livingstone, a paraprofessional in the Appoquinimink district.
Livingstone said there are not enough educators in the state who are certified to work with students with autism, and the district must rely on paraprofessionals or long-term substitute teachers.
Peters told Spotlight Delaware that if vacancies persist, the district uses trained and supervised paraprofessionals to “assist in the delivery of services.” She also said those staff members receive coaching and participate in professional learning through a collaborative model with certified teachers.
The Appoquinimink School District has reported “systemic staffing challenges” to the Delaware Department of Education’s Exceptional Children Resources workgroup, Peters said.
Next school year, the district will start partnering with outside agencies to help teachers earn autism certification and support paraprofessionals currently filling teaching roles, beginning with a small pilot program before expanding.
In the meantime, educators like Livingstone have taken it upon themselves to push for access to more resources at the state level.
Livingstone said the state’s certification is through five classes at Wilmington University, and she has spoken to legislators about the state providing financial assistance to those who want to take the courses.
