Special education program to face scrutiny

The School Board of Manatee County will get a close look at the state of special education in the district during Tuesday night’s board meeting.

Wylene Herring-Cayasso, the director of exceptional student education (ESE), will be holding her department up to scrutiny.

While the state’s graduation rate for students with disabilities has increased over the past three years, Manatee’s is on the decline. In 2014-15, 45 percent of Manatee’s students with disabilities graduated, compared to 57 percent statewide.

Manatee students are more likely to drop out and less likely to be enrolled in higher education, according to the school’s local education agency, or LEA, profile.

Herring-Cayasso said although there were several areas where Manatee did well in the LEA profile, she was more concerned about areas for improvement.

“If we aren’t meeting certain standards in LEA profile, I’m going to be pro-active and create a corrective action plan,” Herring-Cayasso said. “It doesn’t help you if you get a report card and then stick your D’s and F’s in the drawer.”

One of the chief strategies toward addressing inequities in special education, particularly the graduation rate, is to minimize the amount of time students with disabilities spend outside of the general-education classroom. Since the state legislature eliminated the special diploma in 2014, students with disabilities must master the same concepts as general education students in order to receive a diploma.

“Now, if you put students in a self-contained ESE class, the standard expectations we have, where are they going to get those skills?” Herring-Cayasso said. “Your higher functioning (learning-disabled) students, if you are leaving them in those self-contained classes, you are doing them a disservice.”

Herring-Cayasso is proposing a plan for the next four years to gradually move ESE students into general-education classrooms. By the end of the four-year cycle, most fifth grade ESE students will be in all general-education classes, fourth grade ESE students will be in at least two general-education classes, and third grade ESE students will be in at least one general-education class.

As the district sets wide-sweeping goals and establishes priorities, Christine Sket, an advocate for students with disabilities in the district, said the individual students’ needs must be kept in mind. If a student’s individualized educational plan (IEP) states that they need a one-on-one classroom setting, but the district is prioritizing moving students into general education classrooms, conflict is inevitable.

“They are going to be in direct conflict. This happens everywhere — the IEP is forced to make decisions not based on what is best for student but what is best for budget and what is best for program,” Sket said. “The individual needs still need to be met of each student.”

Board Chairman Charlie Kennedy, who was a history teacher at Manatee High School before being elected to the board, spoke in favor of greater inclusion in the district.

“As a teacher, you are already dealing with students of many levels of ability. Mainstreaming kids has been shown to be best for their academic performance and overall well being,” Kennedy said. “That transition is beneficial for the student, and with proper support, handled in stride by the classroom teacher.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2017 at 5:21 PM with the headline "Special education program to face scrutiny."