Parents of children with disabilities address board

THE DALLES — Parents of two different special needs children addressed the North Wasco County School District (NWCSD) Board at the monthly public meeting on Sept. 25, citing concerns that the district was not fulfilling its federal obligations for fulfilling the individual education plans (IEP) for their children.

At the beginning of the meeting and before the parents spoke, Board Chair Betsy Hege added an action from the Board Executive Session, citing ORS 192.660B, to the agenda. 

Immediately, Director Dayna Wynn-Elledge made a motion that the board elect to not hear the appeal dated Sept. 11 and to direct legal counsel to notify the complaining party as to the reasons why. Kevin Kramer seconded the motion. The motion passed, with Director Katie Kelley opposing.

During the public comment period at the end of the meeting, parent Cynthia Vazquez spoke after handing out documents detailing her concerns and interactions with NWCSD staff to the six board members present, as well as Superintendent Carolyn Bernal and District Counsel Jason Corey.

“I have a son in the Structured Learning Center (SLC) in Chenowith Elementary School. He is a 7-year-old boy who is on the autism spectrum disorder with a developmental delay. His education has been compromised in the classroom where he is a student, and he also does not have the necessary support to help with his educational learning. The concerns I will mention shortly have already been mentioned to the institution and to the administrator,” Vazquez stated.

She continued, “My son has already completed an entire school year with these ongoing concerns, and I am deeply worried that he will be going into another year where his education is compromised due to lack of support from the SLC.”

Vazquez’s concerns about the classroom situation included the teacher / student ratio, an assault on her son by a larger student, the lack of incident reports sent to her (as required by district policy), a situation when her son was left outside alone unsupervised, and the lack of an IEP which is causing breaks in routine for her son, resulting in increased aggression due to schedule inconsistencies.

She ended her comments with a request for the board to address her concerns immediately as her son’s rights were being violated. As she concluded her remarks, six other parents stood up silently in the audience behind her.

The next speaker, Hilda Olivio Alejo, spoke of similar concerns about her 9-year-old son who is also at Chenowith Elementary School in the SLC.

She mentioned the lack of consistency and routines are creating setbacks for their children. She also cited communications problems between school staff and parents, and had previously raised the same issues with building and program administration.

In an interview following the meeting, Alejo said, “There’s a failure of action to be done. They [administration] say that they are listening, but there are no concrete actions taken.”

She indicated that she had observed a regression in her son’s behavior and had also observed bruises and a scratch on his arm, but has yet to receive an incident report from the school, and no other documentation.

“There’s such a need to have more support for this classroom with proper staff — right now, there’s only a single teacher with 20-plus students ranging from kindergarten to fifth grade,” Alejo said. “Something needs to be done.

Vazquez added, “This is my son and I have to be his advocate. This is a dangerous situation.”