There are myths that have grown up around school systems that are not deserved. One primary myth is that schools are altruistic organizations that have children’s needs at the top of the agenda. Instead, schools are tough self-interested political bureaucracies where children’s interests often do not top the agenda, and sometimes it is hard to discern where on the agenda children fit at all. I recognize and appreciate the vital role that schools play in our society and the devotion of so many teachers, staff and administrators across the country. School systems, however, should not be afforded immunity which does not allow real scrutiny. Their actions and omissions should not enjoy presumptive validity–a premise of the Shaffer case where the Supreme Court found IEPs to be presumptively valid. The following post will be part of an ongoing series to hold school systems up to the scrutiny they deserve when in too many instances they just behave badly.
Leadership requires taking responsibility. This idea appears lost on
the educational leaders in Baltimore, Maryland. In August 2005, the
federal court in Baltimore gave control of the special education system
to the State of Maryland because of a 5-year breakdown in delivering
appropriate services to students with special needs. Among the most
serious violations was the systematic failure to provide speech and
counseling services to children with special needs. Hours of makeup
services were ordered.
Only a small fraction of the students who were to receive these makeup
services has in fact been served. Federal Judge Marvin J. Garbis is now
threatening school officials with an order of contempt of court and the
“most serious consequences,” if significant strides are not made to
identify and begin to provide the overdue services. Although unlikely,
such “consequences” could include jail time. School board chairman,
Brian Morris, stated politicians were “grandstanding” over this issue
and further stated “we are not going to run this school system based
upon some politicians’ polling data.”
After years of underserving and failing to serve students with special
needs, on a system-wide basis, these school officials still do not seem
to get it. These children are entitled to these services under Federal
law. This breakdown in providing services is a prime example of why
school systems do not deserve.the mantle of respectability or the
“presumption of validity” that has been built on myth not fact.