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Los Angeles Times – Inland Valley Edition
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January 18, 2002 |
CHINO,
CHINO HILLS
School
district delays takeover of programs
After parents this week protested Chino Valley Unified School District's planned
takeover this fall of virtually all district special education classes, school
officials said Thursday they want to postpone the action until the 2003 school
year.
The district planned to take over the special education classes run by the San
Bernardino County public school system on the district's campuses. But some
parents complained they weren't informed of the change. On Monday, parents of
disabled students from Chino and Chino Hills organized a news conference outside
the district's headquarters opposing the planned takeover. They said they wanted
more information before they supported it.
"My recommendation is we aim for the next July," said Ellen Hinkle,
director of special education for the Chino Valley Unified School District.
Hinkle made her recommendation to school board members who have the final say
about the proposed change. At least two of the five board members contacted
Thursday said they like the recommendation.
It's not known yet what the school board will do, but it's clear that school
administrators will try to convince them of the importance of assuming control
over the classes.
"We need to do this. It's in the best interest of Chino students,"
Hinkle said.
The district offers some special education classes, but some of those are run
by San Bernardino County. Some students attend county-run special education
classes outside the district. District officials hope their plan will ensure
that almost all special education students in the district attend classes on
Chino Valley Unified campuses.
Parents who oppose the transfer worry that their children's teachers won't make
the switch to the school district, leaving what they fear might be a gap of
qualified instructors. They are concerned their children will no longer be bused
from their homes to school, and instead be made to walk part of the way. They
said they worried that the new special education classes would mix children
with various disabilities together rather than assign students according to
their disability.
Several parents said they were relieved the decision would be postponed.
"I'm all for delaying -- delay it even longer," said parent Andrea
Houdetsanakis, whose 6-year-old daughter has several disabilities including
speech delay. "It's going to take more than a year to figure out what the
disabilities are and how to accommodate them."
Parent Kumkum Mukherjee questioned whether there would be enough money to cover
the programs plus pay for new school buses and classrooms.
"We need those questions answered before we go ahead," said Mukherjee,
whose 5-year-old son is autistic. "Then if all goes well, we'd be happy
to go ahead if we get better services."
Two school board members agreed they need more time.
"Right now that seems like a reasonable approach," school board member
Bill Klein said. "The bottom line here is everybody is interested or striving
for the best interest of all affected parties."
Parents haven't had enough time to decide what is best, school board President
Lonnie Truett said.
"We need to study this more," Truett said. "This was one of those
quickie things that was pushed through. I really think we all are happy we're
putting this off for a year and see what effect it's going to have for the children
and the parents."
Now that the district is large enough by state standards, with 31,000 students,
it can run its own special education programs. The money for the programs now
is doled out through the West End Special Education Local Planning Area. The
planning area was formed to help small districts pay for special education programs.
It covers 10 school districts.
The problem, said Hinkle, is that Chino Valley ends up subsidizing programs
for other districts. Running its own special education programs will bring in
another $1 million to the district for those services, Hinkle said.
The district also wants more local control and to provide more opportunities
for siblings to go to school together. The plan, as of Monday, was to phase
in the transfer, so that county classes on Chino Valley campuses would transfer
over to the district's control first and then students who attend county-run
classes outside the district would transfer over to the district-led classes
the next year.
Hinkle said that although she anticipated a majority of parents would support
the takeover, the extra time would allow all parents to help shape the programs.
Hinkle said public input meetings are planned for Jan. 29 and Feb. 19. Beyond
that, she intends to have two meetings a month for the next year if there is
still public interest in doing so.
"Parents have good ideas and have concerns for their children and I need
to be able to know them," Hinkle said.
Some parents were disappointed by the proposed delay. Parent Wendy Sehne said
she wants the transfer to happen as soon as possible. Her son, who will be 4
next month, has to ride the bus for 40 minutes to get to school in Ontario.
To find out what programs are available, she has to drive to Rancho Cucamonga
to the planning area's office.
"I've already been waiting," Sehne said. "I'm anxious. I want
it to start."
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