Parents of special education students in the Eanes school district and an expert with the ARC of Texas spoke in open forum at a public board meeting April 28, asking board members and district Superintendent Nola Wellman to discontinue plans for a separate, segregated facility for some students with special needs.

“Special education is a service, not a place; moving services to a separate environment does not provide you with anything different,” said Rona Statman, ARC director of family support services. “If educators can provide the services and facility, then there is nothing to prevent educators from providing the same level and intensity of service on a regular school campus.”

Statman said the district needed to make sure special education students remained in the regular school classroom environment and received necessary services there.

“The Arc of Texas respectfully requests that you abandon the pursuit of a self-contained, separate campus instructional arrangement and that EISD recommit to providing students with appropriate services in the regular school environment,” Statman said.

Carl Sheppard, a district parent with a child receiving special education services told Wellman that a separate building to house certain special education students was not exemplary.

“The issue at hand is the broadness of the proposal that has been put in front of you,” Sheppard said. “It is clear to us that any child that has become a behavioral problem could be put in this facility.”

He asked Wellman for a written guarantee that no student could be transferred to the separate facility without parent permission.

“With that, a lot of this would go away,” Sheppard said.

Parent Laura Avery said there was concern in the special education community that students with “behavioral issues” would be sent to the facility by the admission, review and dismissal committee that implements individual student special education plans and services.

“It is important that students growing up in our schools get the message that people with special needs are part of our society,” said Mita Carson, a Westlake High School graduate and local parent with three children in the district, one with special needs.

“I want the board to not consider any special funds for a separate building for special education,” said parent Dave Conner. “I think this is the wrong way to go. Over the years, we have worked with the district to have a strong program of inclusion. People with special needs in the general population of schools are very beneficial.”

Board member Robert Durkee asked Wellman for a clarification of the type of student that would be served by the proposed separate facility.

“Students who really need special services where the regular school environment is inhibiting,” Wellman said. “

She estimated those students at less than 1 percent of the special education population.

Wellman said the district was considering building a separate special education facility to replace lost services for some parents.

“The district no longer has day facilities,” she said. “Those students who need more intensive, therapeutic services – we can’t provide that. The wrenching choice for parents is residential service. We are trying to keep those students in their homes and in district programs.”

The district will hold a bond proposal public forum for parents of special needs students Tuesday from 6-8 p.m. in the central administration boardroom at 601 Camp Craft Road.

District administrative staff will address items in the bond specific to special education services and facilities.

Individual parents and community members will have an opportunity to comment for three minutes in open session; representatives of groups will have an opportunity to speak to the board for five minutes.