Hillsborough schools shortchange disabled students, joint complaint says

TAMPA — Even in kindergarten, R.J. struggled in school, saying he often felt like a "bad boy" who was "dumb."

His problems included behavioral or emotional disabilities, frustration at not keeping up with classmates and a lack of coping skills.

Within two years, he was suspended regularly for being disruptive. But an advocacy group says Hillsborough schools failed to give him adequate counseling and support.

Now three civil rights groups say that kind of missed opportunity deprives R.J. and students like him of the chance to learn.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities and the NAACP filed a 20-page complaint Wednesday with the state Department of Education over Hillsborough's treatment of students with emotional and behavioral disabilities.

"These students are being tragically shortchanged by the school district," said Marlene Sallo, a Tampa-based attorney for the Advocacy Center for Persons with Disabilities.

The complaint asks the state to force Hillsborough to transform a "culture of neglect and overly harsh discipline" that puts students with disabilities on a path to jail and prison.

Hillsborough schools referred 1,881 students to the juvenile justice system, mostly for minor offenses, in 2006-07.

That's the most in the state, though Hillsborough's percentage of school-related delinquency referrals tracked the state average, according to the complaint.

Punishing students with disabilities instead of providing them with services that promote positive behavior "appears to occur more frequently with students of color," according to the complaint.

"This breakdown in our schools has put children of color particularly at risk," said Pat Spencer, the NAACP's director for the area covered by chapters in Hillsborough, Pasco, Hernando, St. Petersburg and Clearwater.

In response, school spokesman Stephen Hegarty said the district has worked with the NAACP and agrees that in the past it too often referred troublesome students to law enforcement.

Hillsborough's number of referrals to law enforcement for 2006-07 was down 20 percent from the previous year. That, Hegarty said, resulted from work school officials did to reduce referrals, especially for matters like trespassing, disorderly conduct and mischief.

Hegarty said the district is ready to consider the concerns raised by the civil rights groups.

"Now that we have (the complaint) we're going to take it and look at these cases on an individual basis," he said.

The groups also say the school district isolates students with disabilities through discipline. Disabled students in Hillsborough are 2 1/2 times as likely to lose as least 10 days of school to suspensions or expulsions as other students, they say.

But a veteran of two schools with exceptional student education programs says administrators often mainstream students with behavioral disabilities into regular settings.

"We really believe that every student begins in the least restrictive environment," said Joyce Wieland, a former principal and the district's director for exceptional student education.

It is through later assessment and discussion involving both school administrators and parents that placements change.

"Each student is seen as an individual, and we want all children to learn," Wieland said.

The civil rights groups want Hillsborough administrators to hire a nationally recognized expert to help develop a training program emphasizing positive ways to support students with disabilities.

Similar complaints have been filed against Palm Beach County, as well as in Louisiana and Mississippi.

"This problem is not limited to Palm Beach and Hillsborough," said Brandi Davis, a lawyer from the Southern Poverty Law Center in Montgomery, Ala. "This is a state and national problem."

Expulsions and moves

Number of Hillsborough County students expelled or changed to a

different school or program over the past five years.

Year

Total Special

students Regular

students
2003-04 1,616 538 1,078
2004-05 1,602 528 1,074
2005-06 1,369 409 960
2006-07 1,101 290 811
2007-08 930 186 744

Source: Hillsborough County School District. These changes result from offenses including assault and battery, misbehavior and drug possession. About 15 percent of all students are in some special education program.

Comments on this article

by John M.	Oct 8, 2008 4:59 PM
The public school system in Florida is a broken system for children with disabilities. Our children are being abused and neglected because of their disabilities and a school system that doesn't know what to do with them.

by Tina	Oct 6, 2008 1:31 PM
My daughter with Asperger's has already been suspended for 10 days! The teachers and other personnel (resource officers) need training desperately. The resource officer called my daughter "arrogant" and refused to acknowledge her disability!

by Pam	Oct 5, 2008 9:52 AM
My sons experience at Alafia in 2000: Imagine you had to go to work everyday, knowing you couldn't understand how to do the job, and no one was going to help you. That was Kindergarten for my son at Alafia Elementary in 2000. He has ADD and Autism.

by Misty	Oct 3, 2008 6:28 PM
I think that our tax dollars should pay for our children to have an attorney at their fingertips, just as our tax dollars pay for our school districts to have an attorney at their's. Only then will the madness end.

by M.W.S.	Oct 3, 2008 6:28 PM
I think that since our tax dollars pay for the district to have an attorney at their fingertips than our tax dollars should also pay for our children to obtain attorneys when the district is out of complaince. Much of this abuse would stop.

by Leslie	Oct 3, 2008 1:37 PM
Thanks, Jacob. I tell that to my son who has Tourette and a learning disability. I say, "You have trouble learning to read and switching the letters around on the page, and the school is disabled in understanding, learning or accepting Tourette.

by Rusty'smom	Oct 3, 2008 1:36 PM
The system is a mess and parents need help. I can't get any services for my son and he is falling behind in everything. The school just keeps pushing him through the system even though they know he is not ready and is not making his IEP goals.

by Joanne

Oct 3, 2008 1:36 PM

I am a advocate for children with special needs trying to educate people about the over use of restraint and seclusion in the public school system. I recently had to go to (Simmons Career Center) in Plant City, Hillsborough County to check on one of my cases when I saw the staff restraining 2 of the children. What I saw was very disturbing. To me it looked like the staff were provoking these children into doing something wrong and then restraining them over and over. I was told that "these 2 children are restrained almost daily and put in time out." The staff actually looked like it was a power thing for them. Some of these children have no families and no one to advocate for them and what is being done to them is called child abuse. I bought it up to another staff members attention and I was told "It's not your concern. We will take care of it." I don't know what to do because I am afraid of retaliation. These children need help!

by Jo	Oct 2, 2008 7:12 PM
Parents want to call a behavior problem like ODD or Impulsivity Disorder a disabilty. This requires far more flexibility when it comes to discipline. They forget the learning environment of "non-disabled students" suffers. What about their rights?

by Krystal	Oct 2, 2008 5:27 PM
This is an unfortunate event that is happening all over the state. We fight and we fight for our children but we keep getting pushed aside. It is not fait that they are treated as so low and not given the chances that they deserve to be educated.

by Ann	Oct 2, 2008 5:26 PM
No one condones hitting, but when teachers or administrators use physical restraints or grab a child who has sensory issues, it only escalates the situation. This is a huge problem in Fl. & every county should be scrutinized due to lies & coverups!!

by Jacob	Oct 2, 2008 5:23 PM
Your better off running yourself we need people to actually care about a childs education. People are in this for the wrong reasons, and they keep getting elected lets really look at who we vote for.

by Vee	Oct 2, 2008 10:40 AM
Payton, you should exceptionally grateful that you're a perfect person/parent. I quess perfect parents don't have children who abuse drugs/alchol either or do they...

by Jacob	Oct 2, 2008 10:40 AM
I think the only people who are disabled are the people in charge of the school systems, and some posters on here. Florida ranks 45th in education compared to all the 50 states. This is like punishing a blind person because they can't see anything.

by Joan

Oct 2, 2008 10:40 AM

I have been fighting for services for my son with the Palm Beach County School District for 3 years and I have to say it's been the worst experience I have ever been through. The only thing we have been able to get out of IEP meetings is services being cut for our son. Everything we have ever asked for has been denied. I have been bullied and treated like dirt from some of the people running the meetings and have often wondered why some of these people are in these types of jobs. I though they were there to help our children not make things harder for them. I guess I was wrong. I know mine is not an isolated incident because I have talked to other families in Palm Beach county and they are receiving the same treatment. This laws suit should have happened years ago.

by Luna	Oct 1, 2008 5:31 PM
Thanks to our amazing government agencies or lack thereof children suffer and perhaps for a life time. How easy for some of you to make unkind comments when you do not have a child like this.

by payton	Oct 1, 2008 4:52 PM
Maybe if mom or dad weren't using drugs or alcohol when these lovely children were conceived, we'd see less of this type of behavioral problem. Instead, we leave it to the school system to fix the problem

by Kurt	Oct 1, 2008 1:23 PM
I am grateful that we have such organizations in the United States looking out for the disadvantaged and keeping those that inflict pain, suffering and chaos in check!

by M.D.	Oct 1, 2008 1:23 PM
What??? She hit school employees but it was the district's fault? District employees are not government owned property. No hitting PEOPLE and getting free passes because of disabilitites. Getting hit hurts the same regardless of the perps IQ.

by Sam	Oct 1, 2008 1:22 PM
Serious issue.Rarely are folks successful in treating mentally disordered folks.Meds and constant help by family and doctors and maybe it will work. To expect these mediocre schools to spend taxpayer money is unrealistic. Separate institutions.