"Where's the beef?"
- Clara Peller
This is the eighth article in a series on serving students with severe special education needs. Please read the first part for an introduction to the issue.
Apparently, LAUSD Board President Kelly Gonez did not learn anything from her surprisingly weak showing in the June primary election. Bypassing an opportunity to counter the narrative that she does not listen to parents, Gonez refused once again to answer questions about how the district delivers special education services to students. With this continued silence is it any surprise that many of the parents of the approximately 64,500 students with disabilities feel ignored by the district as they negotiate the vast bureaucracy?
Given that the LAUSD spends over 20% of its budget toward educating children with disabilities, there should be an expectation that this is a subject that Gonez would address on her campaign website. However, the words "disability," "disabilities," "IEP," and "special" all fail to make an appearance on the page labeled "Issues." Special Education is clearly not on her radar.
There is a section labeled "Incorporating Equity into All LA Unified Policies" on Gonez's website, which seems to be the perfect place to address a commitment to students with special education needs. Unfortunately, this seemingly exhaustive list of "students of color, English learners, students experiencing homelessness, and foster youth" neglects to mention children with disabilities, who are often the district's most vulnerable students.
Even worse, Gonez's website sets the goal "that every child who graduates from LAUSD is able to achieve their dreams in college and careers." This provides yet another example of an education "reform" candidate dismissing the dreams of students who are eager to embark on a career path that does not require a college diploma. Good-paying jobs that are available to those who have attended vocational schools or participated in apprenticeship programs should not be dismissed and should be supported by programs in our public schools. Students with an intellectual disability that prevents them from attending college should also matter to our leaders. They also deserve a public education that helps them to achieve their full potential.
Like others in the education "reform" movement, Gonez also sees reliance on standardized testing as a positive thing. In bragging that she has spearheaded a program that increased the number of students that are taking the SAT she ignores the trend of colleges dropping the test from their application process. While the test was meant to predict a student's chances of success in college, scores are influenced "by income, parent education levels, and race." This diminishes the test's predictive value, but Gonez is still marketing it on behalf of the College Board.
The only other issue listed on Gonez's website is "Implementing Universal Preschool and High-Quality Early Education." This provided an opportunity to commit to providing early intervention programs that are essential for children on the Autism spectrum, but again these students were ignored.
Gonez's list of issues facing the district is far from exhaustive. Her constituents should expect more details from an incumbent who has spent five years on the school board. This is especially true for a politician who hypes the fact that she worked "as an education policy advisor in President Obama's administration." This claimed knowledge of policy certainly does not appear on her website, leaving her constituents to ask "Where's the Beef?"
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.
