Reply to LCPS SB selects Scott Ziegler as interim Superintendent

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There are 61 pages of how LCPS fails to do many things for Black and Hispanic students such as provide access to higher levels of curriculum and gifted courses. They are disciplined and referred to sped at higher rates . YES that is all impacting their ability to get into an advanced high school later on. Argue with your mom about it. https://www.loudountimes.com/news/virginia-attorney-general-s-office-finds-reasonable-cause-of-discrimination-within-loudoun-county-public-schools/article_1fb1d100-2b4a-11eb-b326-f79c30dc79b2.html[/quote]

Referred to SPED at a higher rate? That's the first time I've heard that. And why would that be bad? If there is a learning disability, the school would identify it through that process and provide needed services. If there's no disability, no services.

You aren't honestly saying that receiving special ed services is somehow a negative, or negatively impacts a child's progress later in school, are you? Because it's quite the opposite, and plenty of kids who receive those services are highly intelligent, participate and succeed later on in AP classes.[/quote]

These students do not always have learning disabilities or SN. They are referred for behaviors. This has been proven to be part of the school to prison pipeline for Black and Hispanic students. [/quote]

Oh give me a break. You think that getting referred to SN for behavior issues leads to prison?!?! You OBVIOUSLY have no idea how SN referrals and evaluations work. Evaluations are done by licensed clinical psychologists and there is absolutely no motivation to wrongfully identify a disability that isn't present. In fact, if anything, there is an incentive for the school to avoid identifying disabilities as they are then required to do so much more work and spend a ton of money providing resources to the student that then HELPS the student. Go read the SNs boards and you will see countless parents lamenting that their child's school did not agree to evaluate their child. You've got it wrong, on all counts.

The head of the Special Needs department for all of Loudoun County is a highly qualified African American woman, by the way. If there were systemic issues along the lines of what you are saying, I would think she'd be all over it.[/quote]

I'll add that receiving special needs services grants the student access to things like specialized instruction, one-on-one instruction, reading groups, accommodations like extra time on tests, teacher's notes, and a whole host of other possible services that BENEFIT the student. If a student doesn't have a disability, the referral goes nowhere and the student receives no services, just like before. So what you are claiming is so far-fetched and ridiculous, it's almost laughable. If someone has convinced you otherwise, it is someone with little to no experience with special needs and you, my friend, have been fooled.[/quote]

It isn’t. LCPS has released their own discipline data. Students with disabilities are disciplined at higher rates than students without disabilities. Black and Hispanic students are disciplined at much higher rates than white and Asian students. This is literally in the data. And there are whole initiatives to address these inequities because THEY FACTUALLY harm marginalized students and lead to poorer educational outcomes for them, higher rates of dropout, higher rates of being referred to youth detention center, etc. If you are a student who is perceived as “acting up” and you receive an IEP for behaviors where the only goals are behavior modifications, you have been sent on a VERY different and more challenging academic track from an early age. Even students who have documented learning disabilities do not have the same outcomes across races even if they receive special education services. This is across our entire education system, not just Loudoun, because the education system as it is DESIGNED is fundamentally inequitable. [/quote]

You are linking two things together as if they have a causal relationship, but they do not. Some kids who are on IEPs get disciplined more, yes, but that is due the disability they have. For example, some children with severe disabilities or mental health issues that aren't under control yet might be more prone to act out. It is NOT because they are on an IEP. You seem to be under the false impression that being on an IEP is somehow punitive or that it negatively impacts the child. I can assure you that it does quite the opposite. Those children get services they need to try and prevent behavioral problems in school.

You obviously don't have direct experience with IEPs or special needs children. You seem to be convinced of your opinion because you read some report, and even at that you seem to have conflated things in that very report. I am not saying that African American and Hispanic children aren't disciplined more, or that there aren't problems in the LCPS system itself. I AM saying that your claim that kids who get referred to SPED services are somehow MORE disadvantaged BECAUSE they received services is incredibly off-base. Put simply, receiving SPED services does not cause disciplinary actions.

Secondly, in order for your claim to be true, we would have to assume that the clinical psychologists who provide evaluations of these children are racially biased and unable to be objective. These are warm and caring individuals who could be making a lot more money elsewhere, but do this work to help kids because that is their life's passion. They are like guidance counselors.

Third, children on IEPs are NOT on a different academic track, as you claim. Most of them are fully integrated into the general education classrooms. Only children with significant disabilities are separate classrooms. Are you making things up?

As I said before, most people who are upset with the SPED system are upset because they cannot get their child referred for an evaluation. The school is not eager to refer children for evals. It has to go through several layers of approval, including the parents agreeing to an evaluation. [/quote]

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