Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, May 9, 1994 TAG: 9405090165
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
Marci Lang will have to make new friends this fall.
A Roanoke County fifth-grader, Marci will attend Hidden Valley Junior High in September. Most of her friends will go to Cave Spring Junior High.
Changing schools and making new acquaintances can be stressful for children. In Marci's case, the stress will be greater because she has a mental disability.
Marci, 12, attends some regular classes at Clearbrook Elementary School, but she is classified as a special education student.
She lives in the attendance zones for Cave Spring Elementary and Cave Spring Junior High schools, but they do not have classes for mentally disabled children. Hidden Valley is the closest school with a special ed program for children such as Marci.
Marci's mother worries about how her daughter will make the change.
"It's going to be difficult for her, I know," Linda Lang said.
Marci has had to change schools before. As a preschooler, she attended Mountain View Elementary School in north county because the special education program for preschoolers was located there.
She also attended Green Valley Elementary School for a year before the special education program was moved to Clearbrook.
Marci's mother and the parents of other special education children are upset that their children cannot attend their "home schools" - the schools they would attend if they did not have disabilities.
The parents say that moving special ed children to different schools every two or three years causes lost friendships and creates a lack of understanding between them and regular students.
The home school issue tops a list of complaints some parents and the county's Special Education Advisory Committee have about the special education program. Recently, the committee took its concerns to the School Board.
County school officials defend their program, saying it is among the best in the state. But they have agreed to make changes as a result of the committee's complaints.
The system tries to provide programs for impaired children as close to their homes as possible, School Board Chairman Frank Thomas said, but the county cannot send all of them to their home schools because of the high cost.
That's why Roanoke County has joined Roanoke and several other school divisions to establish a regional program for more severely impaired students.
Thomas said 92 percent of the county's 2050 special education students attend their home school. But the parents of some students said the 92 percent figure is misleading because it includes learning disabled children as well as those with more severe disabilities.
Eddie Kolb, director of the county's special education program, said 1,050 children have learning disabilities. All can attend their home schools because the county has learning disability classes at all of its 25 schools.
More than 300 students have speech impairments. The others include those who are emotionally disturbed, hearing impaired, visually impaired and orthopedically disabled.
About 150 children are enrolled in the regional program for severely impaired students that includes Roanoke, Salem, Craig County, Botetourt County and Franklin County. With a regional program, Kolb said, the school divisions can provide a better education than they could alone, because of the costs.
Federal and state law requires school systems to provide educational programs that meet the needs of disabled students. They have the same right to a free public education as all other students, regardless of the cost.
But the law does not require that special ed students be taught at their home schools. They must be educated at schools as close as possible to their homes.
Maureen Woods said she had a difficult time getting the county to provide a teaching aide for her son, Chris, who is autistic.
"We had to argue with them before we got an aide," Woods said. "They meet the letter of the law, but they don't always act in the spirit of the law."
Chris, a sixth-grader, would attend Cave Spring Junior High if the county had a program there for autistic children. Instead, he attends Hidden Valley Junior High, the closest school with such a program.
Chris attended the Roanoke County Occupational School for three years before the county closed it and mainstreamed special education children into regular schools.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, about 70 percent of special ed students nationwide attend regular schools. They either receive services in regular classes or are sent at various times to other rooms where they work with special education teachers.
About 30 percent of disabled students are taught in self-contained classes or separate classes.
Most parents of special ed students in Roanoke County support mainstreaming, although many of the children still require special services.
Chris Woods spends part of his day in regular sixth-grade classes at Hidden Valley High and the rest in the special education program.
Tom Woods, Chris' father, said the county seems to be moving slower in mainstreaming special education students than school divisions in other parts of the country.
Still, his parents are reluctant to press for Chris to be in regular classes for the entire day.
"We have a good teacher at Hidden Valley and we have some inclusion," his mother said. "If we fought for more inclusion, I'm not sure that would be the best for Chris."
Tom Woods said school officials have seemed more cooperative since the Special Education Advisory Committee took its complaints to the School Board.
"Our feeling is that some improvements have been made because of the parents' pressure on the board," Woods said.
But Kolb said changes would have been made without the committee's report.
"We have tried to have viable programs for all of the children," Kolb said. "But you can't put some of these children in regular classes. We do what we think is best for the child."
Several parents said Superintendent-elect Deanna Gordon has shown empathy for their concerns. Gordon attended the seminar where Brown called for the integration of mentally disabled people into society.
Thomas, the School Board chairman, has responded to the committee's complaints in a point-by-point reply:
Summer school and an extended year.
Some parents are unhappy that the county does not offer summer programs for special education children to prevent them from regressing or losing skills.
Thomas said the regional program for special education offers summer enrichment programs for autistic children and those with severe disabilities. But the parents said they were not aware of them.
The regional board has decided to offer summer classes for children with multiple disabilities and hearing-impaired children, Thomas said.
Extracurricular activities.
New state regulations require school divisions to provide disabled students with an equal opportunity to participate in extracurricular and non-academic activities. The rules also require that special ed students participate with other students whenever possible.
School officials will urge principals to make sure that disabled children participate with others as much as possible, Thomas said. School officials also have met with the county Recreation Department about making more recreational activities available to disabled students.
Transportation.
Parents complain that some special education students must travel more than an hour to reach their schools. They said some children have to leave school and board buses before the final bell.
Thomas said school officials have been concerned about the transportation issue for several years. Principals have been instructed to report to Kolb's office any instances where children's school days have been modified because of transportation issues.
In-service training for teachers.
The committee said some teachers are insensitive to special education students and sometimes make inappropriate remarks about them.
Thomas said the county has provided the in-service training being sought by the committee. Begining in the next school year, each principal will be required to have teachers attend at least one in-service training session on special education.
Marci Lang's mother appreciates the board's response to the parents, but she still does not have faith that school officials will always look out for her daughter's best interests.
"I have to watch out for her. I feel like we have to fight for what we want," Lang said.
Lang said she refuses to give up the effort to help Marci improve intellectually and socially. "I won't accept any thought or notion that she is worthless. I want her to develop the skills to help her prepare for life, so she can be independent and care for herself."
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