State asked to review special ed

Mayor, superintendent seek ‘expedited’ study of Warwick program

By John Howell
Posted 12/8/16

By JOHN HOWELL Mayor Scott Avedisian and Superintendent Philip Thornton have jointly requested the state Department of Education conduct an expedited" review of the district's special education program "to assure that our work is aligned with"

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State asked to review special ed

Mayor, superintendent seek ‘expedited’ study of Warwick program

Posted

Mayor Scott Avedisian and Superintendent Philip Thornton have jointly requested the state Department of Education conduct an “expedited” review of the district’s special education program “to assure that our work is aligned with researche-based best practice and to assure that our entire learning community, including the public at large whom we serve, is provided accurate information on same.”

The request, made to Mary Ann Snider at RIDE, came the morning after the City Council unanimously approved a resolution calling on the School Committee to retain an independent investigator to follow up on escalating complaints concerning the treatment of special needs students.

Asked about the timing of the request, Avedisian said he has followed stories about special education and has been working for some time on how best to address the issue. The council Education Outreach Committee’s earlier requests for RIDE to investigate Warwick‘s special education program went nowhere. RIDE responded that there is a protocol for parents with complaints to follow.

Ward 5 Councilman Ed Ladouceur feels the efforts of the council’s EOC to address concerns raised by parents has emboldened a group that theretofore was reluctant to raise issues for fear of retribution.

“This is now becoming an entire community,” he said Tuesday. “We’ve got to get it fixed.” He claims issues being raised are not new, adding, “I’m not going to let it happen on my watch. It happened on their watch, and all they did is watch and didn’t do anything about it.”

Reached Wednesday, Ladouceur said he is “happy to see the mayor and superintendent step up to the plate and follow my lead.” But he is wary of a RIDE investigation unless the department retains an independent investigator who will meet with parents and teachers. He said he doesn’t want complaints to be “dusted over” or a “whitewash” of the issue.

Ladouceur said there is a movement for a class action suit against the school department that could result in a prolonged and costly legal dispute, which he would prefer to see avoided.

“It’s about to explode,” he said.

In the request, the mayor and superintendent point out that RIDE completed a full site monitoring visit of the special education department in 2013 and provided findings and suggestions to the department. They say that department director Jennifer Connolly has been attending to the areas of need highlighted in the report and, “despite these efforts or perhaps in reaction to these efforts, a number of concerns continue to be raised now reaching a level of public scrutiny that perpetuates myth and misinformation rather than reality and research.”

Specific areas requested for review include previous special education programs such as class weighting, co-op formula and stanines versus new Special Education Program design; appropriate identification of students with individual education programs (IEPs) and accusations of administrative directives that IEPs not be followed.

Ladouceur, author of the resolution calling for an independent investigation, told council colleagues Monday that complaints about the Special Education Department continue to grow.

“They are breaking state and federal law,” he charged, “and nobody is doing anything about it except [School Committee member] Karen Bachus.”

Ladouceur said the Education Outreach Committee neither has the resources nor the authority to compel changes, and for that reason the resolution asks for the School Committee to retain an outside investigator.

Ladouceur’s resolution was seconded by a number of council members. Ward 3 Councilwoman Camille Vella-Wilkson, who noted Ladouceur had been called a bully for his probe into Warwick schools, said, “If you are a bully I stand proudly behind you.”

City Council President Donna Travis said allegations the council is overstepping its bounds are “crazy.”

On Tuesday a RIDE spokesman said the request had been received but there was nothing to report at that time.

Avedisian reasoned a review by RIDE would be better placed than that of an independent investigator hired by the school department because any findings would be presented to RIDE.

“It seems to me we will get it [a review and any directives for change] all done at once,” he said.

“Let us know,” he said of RIDE, “from top to bottom what the deficiencies are and the actions to correct them.”

In a statement Ladouceur said of the request, “How convenient. No surprise. After the City Council, teachers, parents and students do all the heavy lifting, the mayor and the superintendent finally decide to do something. They did not attend the public meeting the EOC and City Council recently held, the mayor has not attended one meeting of the EOC Committee, the superintendent only attended the very first one, no one else from the school department has been attending the meetings of the EOC, etc. Now less than 24 hours after my resolution is unanimously passed by the City Council Monday night and with at least five co-sponsors, the mayor and the superintendent finally decide to follow my lead as well as the lead of Educational Outreach Committee. I am grateful to have their support.”

He continues, “However, this situation requires a complete investigation, not just a feel good overview. This issue will not go away until a full investigation that includes interviewing all teachers, parents, students and anyone else involved or having knowledge of the issues taking place in the Warwick Special Education Department. We owe this to the educators, the parents, the students and the taxpayers who are footing the bill for the 260 million dollar school department budget.”

In a phone interview Wednesday, Thornton said that the department reached out to RIDE prior to passage of the council resolution. Asked about the EOC’s request for an investigation, he said, “The EOC has no jurisdiction over the Warwick School Department.”

In addition, Ladouceur said Wednesday after reading the letter to RIDE that it appears the mayor and superintendent by referencing class weighting and issues relevant to the teacher contract is attempting to circumvent negotiations.

In response to Ladoceur’s state, Avedisian said, “Actually, if Councilman Ladouceur would review the numerous comments that I have made on this issue, I have stated for a while that I favored a full investigation by the Rhode Island Department of Education.  Several weeks ago, I went to the governor’s office looking for assistance.  That is what put the commissioner on the radar screen as to what the Department of Education will agree to do. If Councilman Ladouceur wants to take credit for this issue, then go right ahead. I am only concerned with getting the investigation done and resolved once and for all.”

Comments

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  • richardcorrente

    The statements that Mayor Avedisian may, or may not have made is nothing more than talk; just talk. What Ed Ladouceur is doing is "action". Big, big difference!

    To quote the Mayor, "I have stated for a while that I favored a full investigation". Really? If he sincerely wants that, why didn't he just ORDER one! Wouldn't that "expedite" this matter? Better yet, just put Ed Ladouceur in charge. He'll get the job done!

    Merry Christmas everyone.

    Rick Corrente

    Thursday, December 8, 2016 Report this

  • Homewardbound

    Ed's comment concerning teacher contracts speaks volumes about where his real concern lies on this matter!

    Thursday, December 8, 2016 Report this

  • Bob_Cushman

    Councilman Ladouceur states "We owe this to the educators, the parents, the students and the taxpayers who are footing the bill for the 260 million dollar school department budget.”

    How are we supposed to take the Councilman's action and the rest of the City Council serious when

    1) He is not willing to tackle all the problems identify on the city side of the budget?

    2) He don't know that the total school department budget including Federal, state and local tax dollars is $161 million not $260 million?

    2) He doesn't realize that the percentage of local tax dollars used to fund the city budget is growing each year and that 77% of the budget is paid for by local taxpayers while 74% of the school budget is paid for by local taxpayers?

    3) He either doesn't know or doesn't care that in the last ten years local tax dollars allocated to the city budget have increased from $67.1 million to $107.1 million for a grand total of a $40 MILLION INCREASE, while over the same period of time the local tax dollars allocated to the school budget has increased from $118.1 million to $119.5 million or a grand total increase of only $1.4 million.

    4) He doesn't think an investigation should be undertaken to determine why out of every new property tax dollar collected in the city over the last ten years 97 CENTS of every dollar went to the city budget and only 3 CENTS went to the school budget?

    5) He doesn't want to investigate why unfunded liabilities in the city as reported in the most recent city annual financial report increased over $300 million and what effect this is having on the city and school services?

    6) He doesn't want to investigate why the Fire Department OVERTIME budget has been exceeded by amounts ranging from $1 million to $2 million over the past years?

    7) He doesn't want to investigate why sick pay bonuses paid out in the city budget over the past years have exceeded the budgeted amount by almost 300 PERCENT costing $600,000 more last year?

    8) He doesn't want to investigate why the city in direct conflict with the advice of city healthcare expert recommendation, switched from a Self-Insured Program to a fully insured program and if that change has anything to do with why healthcare costs in the city budget have increased at a greater rate than the school budget?

    9) He doesn't want to investigate how much the $600 cap on family plan prescription drug cost is costing taxpayers?

    10) He doesn't want to investigate why the cash flow is most of the city pension plans are negative, meaning more cash is going out of the funds then going in and what effect this is having on more tax payer dollars being needed in the pay each year.

    11) He doesn't want to investigate eliminating Cost of Living Adjustment (Municipal has not seen a A COLA in almost 10 years) in the pension plans until all plans are at sufficient funding levels? Or putting caps of the max amount anyone can receive from a plan each year?

    12) He doesn’t want to investigate if the new Health Saving account benefit enacted several years ago providing each police office $4,000 each year and costing taxpayers over $600,000 more each year, has saved on healthcare spending and if the benefit should be reduced or eliminated or provided to other city employees?

    13) He doesn’t want to investigate the potential cost saving from the consolidation of city services such as police and fire dispatch services while massive consolidation efforts have occurred in the school budget related to special education bus services, maintenance services and closure of schools saving tens of millions of tax dollars?

    14) He doesn’t want to investigate after massive thief of materials and tools was discovered within the Department of Public Works, implementing new inventory tracking software and vehicle GPS tracking on all vehicles to save taxpayer dollars?

    15) He doesn’t want to investigate how the Warwick Sewer Authority can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars for engineering plans and material to increase the size of the berm around the facility after it flooded out, only to realize that the material could not be used and the money spent wasted?

    16) He doesn’t want to investigate how to city council members violated state Open Meeting laws twice in the last few years and what can be done so this does not happen again and more transparency can be provided to taxpayers?

    17) He doesn't want to investigate once the school contract is settled, where is all the money going to come from to pay for increased teacher salary and benefits?

    However when city spending continues to increase to new record l;evels each year and taxpayers in neighborhoods such as mine receive a property tax increase of over 10% while roads continue to be in terrible condition, recreation facilities are falling apart and overall city services are being cut, and he and all the other council members are content to do little to nothing to investigate what is causing this and what can they do to make needed fiscal changes in the city, I will call them out for what this action is, nothing more than GRANDSTANDING and undermining the School Committee and the Superintendent.

    When Councilman Ladoceur and the rest of the City Council decide to get their own house in order and solve all these above issues, I will be the first one to stand in line and applaud them when they need to stick their noise in the school departments business.

    Friday, December 9, 2016 Report this