Email crystal.lopez@sbcss.net BY 12:45pm this Monday March 1
Board Facebook Event: https://www.facebook.com/events/743667203007345
MY PUBLIC COMMENT:
AGENDA ITEM: 6. Matters Brought by CitizensWest End SELPA major issue of no oversight by SB of education on how special education money is spent
I know West End SELPA is using majority of district special education money and resources to fund lawsuits against parents, instead of helping our special needs students. Per every advocate and lawyer I have met they always State if the district would just spend the money helping the students then we would not need mediation and lawsuits. The IEP team should by law make the right decision on the services that the students requires for FAPE.
It took me 3 advocates, a lawyer and state complaint to get my daughter the 1-1 that the IEP team of our first IEP agreed was needed for my daughter to be successful. So almost 3 years and large cost later we successfully received Approval in mediation with district and West End SELPA.
The goal on West End SELPA website States “The SELPA is responsible for assuring program availability for all students with disabilities.” Yet the only time I ever meet a West End SELPA representative is when I am in mediation with district and they are defending the district, not an impartial 3rd party.
There seems to be no oversight and the district Superintendents get to decide how special education money is spent? “The Superintendents’ Council makes policy decisions, establishes procedural guidelines, approves the SELPA budget, and determines how special education funds will be allocated and distributed to the districts.”
Where is the oversight by parents or local leaders to ensure the money is used to help “all students with disabilities?” There is a Community Advisory Committee (CAC) but they have no authority and do not advise the superintendents at All. I have attended several meetings of CAC and talked to representatives and they don’t advise anyone.
So the district Superintendents came together and devised that it is cheaper to require parents to mediate/sue the district than just provide the services. Most parents in our west end SELPA don’t have the funds for lawyers so their kids don’t get services they need. Most parents of special education students are working hard to pay for outside services like OT, PT, Speech, Therapist and social groups, since they don’t qualify through school district. So the regular parents struggling to make money to pay for food and basic services do not have funds to fight for district resources.
Instead told by district they don’t qualify and would need to go through meditation to get the decision reviewed by West End SELPA that actually on district side. Most parents don’t have $2,000 plus dollars to retain a lawyer to mediate. So their poor child doesn’t get the services they need to be successful.
We need oversight on how the West end SELPA money is used for? It currently used for lawsuits and not to help our kids. We need to empower West End SELPA CAC and SB Board of education to oversee and ensure money is properly spent.
