Special ed in distress A few schools get it right, but complaints and lawsuits are mounting against a troubled program serving 7,000 Seattle students.
Formal complaints on behalf of the Seattle school district's 7,000 special-education students have doubled over the past two years. Parents, teachers and state officials blame a central administration they say has become indifferent to the long-troubled department.
Seattle Times staff reporter
KEN LAMBERT / THE SEATTLE TIMES
Shaun Rose, background, says her son Tenzin lost confidence and felt ostracized when his kindergarten teacher couldn't help him.
KUOW report
KUOW (94.9 FM) has also examined the state of special education in Seattle Public Schools.In a report that is to air Sunday, families discuss what they call atrocious experiences and the changes they're demanding. http://kuow.org/post/special-ed-seattle-public-schools-atrocious-heartbreaking-say-parents
Five years ago, a high-profile report found that Seattle's public-school district was decades behind the rest of the country in serving students with disabilities.
In response, then-Superintendent Maria Goodloe-Johnson declared special education a major priority and announced sweeping changes.
Today, the problems are even worse.
Six special-education directors — and three superintendents — have served since that 2007 report, discombobulating a growing department that now serves more than 7,000 students, one-seventh of the district's overall enrollment.
The upheaval has spawned a culture of low expectations in which district officials seem to put avoiding lawsuits above engaging families, training staffers or educating children, according to dozens of parents, teachers, principals, advocates and experts.
And they're failing even at that.
The annual amount Seattle Public Schools spends