County Lags In Referrals For Special Education

By Michael Alison Chandler (Contact)

Wednesday, October 10, 2007

The percentage of Loudoun County students referred for special education services is below the average for the state and neighboring counties, according to a report presented to the School Board by a special education advisory committee Tuesday night.

Ten percent of Loudoun’s 54,000 students receive special education services, compared with 14 percent nationwide, 15 percent in Virginia, 14 percent in Fairfax County and 18 percent in Alexandria. The disparity suggests that some Loudoun students are probably missing out on services they need, said Lynn Blycher, chairwoman of the committee.

“In the committee’s opinion, we are under-identifying special education students,” Blycher said.

Students who do not get the help they need are more likely to struggle with self-esteem and drop out of school, she said. “That cost is too high,” she said.

The committee’s report highlighted other concerns, including the need for more training for teachers working with special education students in mainstream classes and a shortage of specialists to identify, monitor and teach students with disabilities. Last year, there were two resource teachers working with more than 400 autistic students; this year, there are three, the report said.

The report recommended that the school system develop a program for students who are both academically gifted and learning-disabled. It also advised the school system to expand its Web site for special education services, adding referrals for resources, more information about how the process works and explanations of confusing terminology. The Web site currently lists little more than staff contacts.

“I think you have gotten a lot of good springboards tonight” for action, said Superintendent Edgar B. Hatrick III.

Several board members said they had children who had received special education services in the county and personally understood the challenges. “These are concerns that I have been dealing with for a long time,” said School Board Chairman Robert F. DuPree Jr. (Dulles).

After the report was presented, the board voted to have school officials study the cost and feasibility of expanding special education services to include students who are bused to private schools, many of which are outside the county.

“We are not doing our job, in my opinion, and we need to make these classes available,” said board member Sarah B. Smith (Leesburg), who proposed the study.

About 65 of Loudoun’s 5,045 special education students attend one of 11 private schools, sometimes taking a bus ride of an hour or more. Tuition and transportation costs — $50,000 to $100,000 per student — are covered by state and county funds.

Some parents say they are concerned that students are not receiving the best services under federal law, which requires that children with disabilities be educated in the least restrictive setting possible.

Rosalind Jamison, a Leesburg resident whose 10-year-old grandson goes to a private school in Annandale, told the board that having her grandson bused more than an hour away is a security issue. “If something happens to my grandson or one of the other kids, we are more than an hour away and unable to intervene. These kids fall in the category of emotionally disturbed,” she said.

Hatrick warned that educating those students in county schools would involve new construction as well more specially trained instructors.

“I think there will be some pretty startling facts and figures about what this will cost,” he said.

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