Hovey, Lyddy Request State Investigation Of Newtown Special Ed Dept

By John Voket

Newtown’s two state representatives, Chris Lyddy and DebraLee Hovey, have called on the State Department of Education to launch an investigation into the local school district’s Special Education Department. The lawmakers say the demand for a state audit was made after they say dozens of parents of local special education students corresponded with the lawmakers voicing concerns.

According to the state representatives, some parents accused district officials of altering official documents to remove services initially agreed upon and promised during Planning and Placement Team meetings or PPTs. Others said district officials told them services would be taken away from other more needy students in order for their own children to receive the support being requested.

School Superintendent Janet Robinson told The Bee that she welcomes the state audit, and is chalking up many of the complaints to parents who were legitimately denied services through the legal processes available to them, and those “parents are just bitter because they lost at the state level.”

In addition to constituent concerns, Rep Hovey said during a more recent meeting she and Rep Lyddy arranged with Board of Education Chairman William Hart, she “had to exercise a tremendous amount of self-control to not react inappropriately when he told me the district had to ration [special education] services” among parents or caregivers making requests for support during PPTs.

Rep Lyddy said he was most disappointed to hear Mr Hart admitting the district is violating the law by rationing special education services.

“He said, ‘We can’t give everyone everything they want,’ but it is against the law to ration services to children who are determined to need them. It’s inappropriate and illegal,” Rep Lyddy said after his conversation with the school board chairman.

Mr Hart emphatically denied telling the lawmakers that the district was rationing services; however, he likened the provision of services to what insurance companies do when evaluating what services to provide for sick patients.

“We don’t ration — period — but as a parent you may feel that that is the process. It’s inherently like rationing,” Mr Hart said. “If I am sick I want them to do everything possible and they say we’ll do the right things and fair things. We have a limited pool of dollars, and that’s a hard process for the parents who want to see [their own child receive] every available service provided.”

Both representatives also expressed dismay that following a March 18 meeting between Rep Hovey and the superintendent, Dr Robinson failed to respond to a follow-up letter affirming constituent concerns and requesting feedback on how the district is responding. But Dr Robinson said she never received the letter.

“I don’t think I have a letter,” Dr. Robinson said. “If she’s making reference to a failure at my end, I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

Dr Robinson said she met with Rep Hovey (the meeting was also attended by First Selectman Pat Llodra), but the superintendent was at a disadvantage because she could not discuss specific special ed cases. The superintendent said she did, however, bring the lawmakers’ concerns to the attention of the special education administration to determine “what we are doing to make the procedures friendlier.”

Parents Fear Retaliation

Dr Robinson said if parents want services that have been deemed inappropriate by those administrators, than it is up to the parents to initiate procedures availed to them under the law.

“Our special ed department is one of the best in the state in following state law,” Dr Robinson said, adding that it is incumbent on all district staff involved with such cases to understand the process, and to be welcoming to parents who walk into the PPT process for the first time.

“Parents should feel their issues are being heard,” the superintendent said.

Rep Hovey said she has corresponded with more than 25 different constituents even though her district only encompasses a small area of southern Newtown. And Rep Lyddy said he has met with more than 15 parents in person, and has been contacted in writing or called by about 15 more.

“When we have this number of concerns, we have to see those concerns are addressed,” Rep Lyddy said. “All of these parents deserve to have a clear and fair and responsive process in place here in Newtown. And we need the state to come in and hear from all these parents directly.”

Rep Lyddy said he has heard from many parents who were fearful of retaliation against their children if they went on the record about the issues they were facing. When asked about this point, Dr Robinson said she has “never seen a teacher retaliate against a student” whose parents have spoken out or criticized the district administration.

“It’s not a legitimate complaint,” Dr Robinson said. “And if I ever thought someone was retaliating against a student I would be there in a New York minute. Teachers just don’t do that.”

Rep Hovey said many of the parents experienced “a level of arrogance or lack of respect from administrators [toward parents] on special education issues” during PPT meetings.

“Parents say to me that they are not respected, listened to, and when they provide supplemental documentation for their PPTs, that documentation in some cases has been dismissed,” Rep Hovey said. “Parents go into PPTs and are told how much the services will cost the district, and they are told that other [special education students] will have to be deprived of services because they are asking for such extraordinary support from the district.”

Mr Hart said that he heard one parent “had some expert somewhere and we didn’t accept that opinion, but of all the experts out there you can always find one that will tell you what you want to hear. We balance that against our experts.”

Rep Hovey said she was told the district puts up roadblocks, and that the PPT process has a chilling effect on parents.

“I’m told that verbal agreements don’t show up in the written follow-up from PPTs, and that is why I am advising every parent of a special education student in Newtown from this point on, to tape every meeting so they own a record of what was said and promised,” Rep Hovey said.

No Follow-Up

Rep Hovey, an attorney who consults on issues related to special education services, said based on the complaints she believes there is a legitimate issue warranting state intervention. And she questions why after the March meeting the superintendent failed to provide any follow-up, and never brought the meeting to the attention of school board members.

“Even if she didn’t get my letter, she met with a state representative about concerns,” Rep Hovey said. “Wouldn’t you inform the Board of Education about the meeting?”

Mr Hart said he was invited to the March meeting with Mrs Llodra and Dr Robinson, and that he was told it was to provide the lawmaker with input about state budget concerns.

“I was invited to the March 18 meeting and Pat told me in advance what was on the legislative agenda. Then DebraLee blindsided them with this topic, which was rude,” Mr Hart said. Regarding his meeting on May 16 with the two representatives, Mr Hart added that he was “miffed that a working meeting to try and solve problems [is being] played out in the press.”

The lawmakers’ letter of complaint requesting state intervention details the following issues:

1) The Newtown Board of Education fails to provide free and appropriate educational services.

2) The administration specifically and knowingly usurps the rights of parents on behalf of their children.

3) The Newtown Board of Education consistently exhibits a lack of responsiveness to concerns expressed by parents with regards to their children’s learning and progress .

4) The PPT does not and refuses to consider/use the findings and recommendations of independent experts and evaluations.

5) There are expressed concerns by parents that there is manipulation and misrepresentation of the facts and findings of a PPT in the minutes.

6) Administrative representatives knowingly prejudice and impede the PPT process and IEP [individualize education program] development.