Board member: Mistakes made in special ed.
Jackson administrators still trying to replace occupational therapists
BY DAVE BENJAMIN Staff Writer
Amember of the Jackson Board of Education said she is still trying to find the real reason why a group of occupational therapists who were working with special education pupils left the Jackson School District this year.

Between October and January, five occupational therapists (OT) quit their jobs in Jackson. Some people have indicated that the use of a trans-disciplinary approach within the special education instruction may have been one of the factors initiating the departure of those individuals.

School board member Sharon Dey, who is the parent of a special-needs child, does not accept that explanation.

"In my opinion our OTs did not leave because of the trans-disciplinary model," Dey said. "A hostile environment developed throughout this school district in special education. We need the truth. Our children deserve it."

Within the past month the parents of special needs children began demanding answers from board members and district administrators about what happened and why their children were not receiving all of the services they were supposed to be getting.

Dey said administrators met with parents on Jan. 29, 30 and 31 to discuss the OT issue. She said the special education department made some critical mistakes that cost the school district many qualified therapists, many of whom had been with Jackson for several years.

"I've said it before and I'll say it again, one cannot make changes without understanding the nature, meaning different abilities, and purpose, meaning what key role the therapy holds to help educate a child," she said. "What happens today with our children will have a direct impact on the rest of their lives."

Dey said she has always tried to be proactive in the school district as a parent, but said the district is a reactive place now. She said she will continue to ask why, when so many warning flags were apparent, this situation occurred.

"We have poisoned the term trans-disciplinary model because we didn't implement it correctly," she said.

Dey said the special education administration showed an example during the parents meetings of how this was going to be done, using one individual and two groups, but when she did some research, she did not see that example anywhere in a trans-disciplinary model.

Dey said she has questions that have not been answered, including this one: How was the district able to absorb two five-day-perweek OTs having had one resignation in June, one termination in October and other OT schedules cut a day or two, if more services were going to be provided? She said it was her opinion that this could only spell fewer services, not more.

She said her other concerns include what she called a lack of knowledge in the special education department; the lack of understanding different abilities; the lack of understanding of staff and therapists and their professional opinions and the input into the children they are evaluating and/or working with.

Dey said the bottom line is that every child learns in different ways.

"It is our job to educate, and if that means specialized services, that's what we need to do to help each child achieve their individual abilities and help them achieve their goals," Dey said. "I am happy to see we have been aggressively looking for and acquiring qualified candidates, but we are still [short of the OT staff needed] and paying outside agencies to do a job we more than could have done had people listened to others. I am upset and angry."

Dey said she has some measures she would like to see put in place, one of which is exit interviews for contracted staff and terminated staff. She said she believes important information could have been brought to the board much sooner if that had been done.

She also said she would like an e-mail or voice mail system put in place by which staff members would be comfortable bringing their concerns to the district's administrators without fear of reprisal from their direct supervisor.