One proposed solution is to allow the 9th-grade students to stay in the middle school that they attended for the past three years. Their needs were being met in the middle school environment and the principal readily agrees to make this accommodation. So why won't the district allow it when they are the ones who caused the problem in the first place? They forced this solution and all of the parents welcome this more than sending their kids farther away on a bus to find a program because the program a mile away is gone? Why? The district closed down our program, they gave no option within a reasonable distance and outright deny the solution every parent is jumping at the chance to accept.
The other solution is to restore the Autism Core program in the school that they are scheduled to attend in the fall. By saving this program our children will not be forced to travel far out to find another school that may or may not have a program that works. For this solution, I reached out to Board Member Nick Melvoin who oversees our residence high school. That took a lot of emails, back and forth, and what I almost perceived as an attempt to dodge, but after a discussion with Mr. Melvoin's community-engagement administrator, we secured a meeting in two weeks.
Summer is halfway through and there is an entire class of special-needs students with autism due to start 9th grade but have no idea where they will go. We literally have no school and are all forced to due process because of this program closure.
I have asked for assistance from everyone I could think to ask. Even when told no, I push on because there's no other choice. Parents are losing hope and are considering homeschooling as a last resort, which is not what we want; we want our children in school.
Our children want to go to school. The question is, do the Board Members, who are supposed to ensure the district is meeting the community needs, care enough to make the right decisions for the students? The future of my child, her classmates, and many others rests in the conscience and courage of our elected officials. I hope they stand up to their words of supporting the students; the time to prove that is NOW.
Carl Petersen is a parent advocate for students with special education needs and public education. He was elected to the Northridge East Neighborhood Council and is the Education Chair. As a Green Party candidate in LAUSD's District 2 School Board race, he was endorsed by Network for Public Education (NPE) Action. Dr. Diane Ravitch has called him "a valiant fighter for public schools in Los Angeles." For links to his blogs, please visit www.ChangeTheLAUSD.com. Opinions are his own.
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