How did they think this was ever going to go well?
The idea of moving students with disabilities to designated “Special Education Specialty Schools” in Houston ISD stood little chance of being applauded.
I mean, what images come to mind with that kind of terminology, that kind of tidy approach to selecting out a certain population?
Parents got the word from leaked documents online on or about April 24 and the news reports that followed. When they contacted their home schools, and HISD’s central office for answers, they weren’t given any. Just told to be patient and all would be explained in good time.
Well, they weren’t. Patient, that is. They got to someone who would listen and as a result, the U.S. Department of Education has already launched a disability discrimination investigation into HISD. And even in a government document, a sense of outrage shines through:
“The District is allegedly centralizing certain special education services and proposing to separate students with disabilities from the larger student population beginning in the 2026-27 school year, despite parental concerns that their children should be in general education classrooms where their social skills improve more significantly around their peers. Parents have also expressed concerns that longer transportation times to the proposed specialty schools would be challenging for children with medical and behavioral needs.”
Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey wrote: “Schools cannot exclude students with disabilities simply because of their disability status. Placement decisions must be made individually, based on each student’s needs, rather than by blanket policies that segregate students by disability category.
“The allegations described here are alarming. The Trump Administration will fully investigate this situation and fight to ensure every child with a disability receives the education and support guaranteed under the law.”
Not every existing special ed program is going to be upended under the plan. But some/several/ many will. This is so up in the air, we don’t know. These are students and their families who thought they were all set for the next school year and now face the prospect of a last-minute change this fall. And as the plan states, there is no guarantee that if there are multiple children in a family, they’ll still be going to the same school.
Where teachers will end up is uncertain as well. According to what civic activist and former teacher Ruth Kravetz says she has been told, calls went out from central office this past week, asking special ed department chairs if their school could take more special ed students. That doesn’t sound like a plan with all of its parts nailed down. Especially if it’s supposed to start in just three months.
“This is building the boat in the middle of the ocean,” Kravetz says.
But let’s give the Houston ISD administration the benefit of the doubt that this was a well-intended effort to better educate these students by consolidating brain trusts of teachers well trained in dealing with special ed kids.
And that this plan is finally something meant to solve HISD’s long-standing poor record in the area of special education and its students. One that has lasted through several administrations and one that Superintendent Mike Miles inherited in the state takeover of HISD.
In fact, the Texas Education Agency singled out needed improvement for special education in HISD as one of the primary corrections it wants to see before it will hand the district back over to an elected board and a superintendent who is not appointed by TEA Commissioner Mike Morath.
Also, let’s take at face value as the plan for these specialty schools states – and the HISD press office repeated on Monday – this is not a way to save the district money, to balance out the funds lost to declining enrollment.
You still have to cringe at the way it has been handled.
Once again Miles’ administration developed a plan without input from parents. Teachers appear to be surprised by it as well. Then they doubled down on that top-down management style by initially declining to answer any questions about it.
According to the leaked documents, under this plan there would be three types of classes with accompanying limits placed on the number of students who would be in each class. The highest functioning special ed student class would be allowed up to 15 students in a class. Somewhat lower functioning students would be in classes of up to 12 students and those in a Behavior Support Class who need more help in being able to learn in a traditional classroom setting would be in rooms with up to 9 students in them.
Kravetz terms this “illegal.”
“They’re making a decision based on program types rather than individualized student needs,” Kravetz says.
As Kravetz herself said, some consolidation has always happened and makes sense. “There’s nothing wrong with consolidating when you only have one autistic kid on one campus and you have three autistic kids on another. There’s not enough manpower to have two teachers so you bring them together for four,” Kravetz says.
But what HISD is proposing to do violates federal law as she understands it by setting aside certain schools as special education ones and saying that others will in essence exclude special ed students.
Parents are concerned about how much time their children will spend in the general student population, the opportunity through mainstreaming for them to reduce isolation and where they can more readily improve their social skills. Many say it’s that exposure that helps their children to improve how they navigate the real world. It’s also part of federal law — that special ed students are supposed to be in the least restrictive environment and have the opportunity to be educated with their peers.
Kravetz calls the plan to put as many as nine “behavior kids,” (often defined as those with significant behavioral, social or emotional challenges) in one classroom as “a recipe for disaster. They need individualized support.”
HISD under Superintendent Miles’ administration has become known for introducing policies and programs with no input from its community. Instead, it offers time-limited information sessions after making a decision, labelling them “community outreach.”
Most good managers know that if you want to launch a new program, you need to have buy-in ahead of time if it’s to be at all successful. Discussions during development may be uncomfortable, even acrimonious.
But if your plan is a really solid one, it should be able to withstand challenges. It has the chance to turn into a better plan than the one you alone developed. Especially as in this case if you aren’t the parent of a child with special ed needs or a teacher working with those students.
It may even keep you out of trouble with the U.S. Department of Education amid charges that what you are doing is illegal.
