Pottsville Area School District has long been a critic of the special education services provided by the first charter school in Schuylkill County, Gillingham, established in 2011.
At the first of eight public hearings regarding the charter school’s effort to get a second five-year charter, held Monday at Pottsville Area’s D.H.H. Lengel Middle School, Pottsville Area targeted that aspect of Gillingham’s program.
The first two witnesses were mothers who withdrew their children from Gillingham, 915 Howard Ave.
“I feel bad for the students that are there. They deserve a quality education, whether they have special ed services or not. And it’s failing. They’re not getting it. And that’s the right of students, to have that education. And I don’t want another child to go through the kind of things that I went through with my son,” the district’s first witness, Susan M. Whitesell, Schuylkill Haven, said.
She said her son suffers from an anxiety disorder. He was a student at Gillingham from the time the school opened in 2011 until the end of the 2014-15 school year, when she decided he required home school.
Whitesell had concerns with her son’s 504 plan and said she made numerous requests, asking Gillingham to re-evaluate her son academically.
“You were sufficiently satisfied with the education that was provided to your son in 2013-2014 to bring him back in 2014-2015?” Mark G. Morford, Mechanicsburg, an attorney for Gillingham, asked.
“Yes,” Whitesell said.
But after four years of trying to work with the school, Whitesell said she lost patience.
Karen Schock, Pottsville, the district’s second witness, said her daughter suffers from selective mutism. The girl was a student at Gillingham from the time the school opened in 2011 until fall 2013. Now, her daughter is a student at Pottsville Area.
“She shouldn’t have received the 504 plan. She should have gotten the IEP (Individual Education Program) and a speech and language therapist and a social worker right off the bat,” Schock said.
Schock said there was also a lot of turnover with social workers at the school.
“We needed someone who was going to be there in the school setting who would build a rapport with her,” Schock said.
“Using small group instruction as much as possible, do you know if they did that?” Morford asked, while reviewing accommodations outlined in that student’s 504 plan.
“Yes,” Schock said.
“And pairing her with friends. Do you know if they did that?” Morford asked.
“As much as possible, yes,” Morford said.
In November, Gillingham refused to allow Pottsville Area to inspect its special education records, and Pottsville Area filed a lawsuit asking Schuylkill County Court to issue an injunction. In January, Schuylkill County Judge Jacqueline L. Russell allowed Gillingham’s parents to decide which student records should be made available.
There were 72 children who were identified as having IEPs or were covered under Section 504. Of those, the parents of 18, or 25 percent, gave Pottsville Area permission, Andrew M. Kline, an independent special education consultant from Lancaster who conducted the special education audit, said.
“You’ve completed special education audits in the past. What percentage of files would you like to review when completing a special education audit?” Ellen C. Schurdak, Bethlehem, an attorney for Pottsville Area, asked.
“Typically, it’s 20 to 25 percent. So this was right on the mark,” Kline said.
Kline was the third witness Pottsville Area introduced at Monday’s hearing. He presented findings from his audit.
He said he was also given access to the files of seven special education students at Pottsville Area who transferred from Gillingham. So he reviewed a total of 25 students in his audit.
“Of the 25 students that I reviewed, 18 currently at Gillingham and seven transferees to Pottsville Area, five of them had files which were compliant, so the students were offered FAPE (Free Appropriate Public Education),” Kline said.
Kline said with nine of them, there were “procedural and substantive concerns where there were practices or documents that I concluded were out of compliance. But the students were not there, in my opinion, a sufficient amount of time for me to reach a conclusion one way or another whether they received FAPE in the LRE (Least Restrictive Environment).”
Concerning the files on those nine students, Kline said, “I noticed with some of them that the IEPs and the NOREPs (Notes Of Recommended Educational Placement) were internally inconsistent.”
“So what is the concern if the NOREP is not consistent with the IEP?” Schurdak asked.
“It can be confusing for the parent. Secondly, it can be confusing for the school in terms of what the services are supposed to be or what the placement is supposed to look like,” Kline said.
Of those 25 students, Kline said 11 of them were “denied FAPE in the LRE.”
“From the audit you performed at Gillingham Charter School, what percentage of students, in your professional opinion, were denied FAPE?” Schurdak asked.
“Forty-four percent, 11 out of 25 students,” Kline said.
Morford will cross examine Kline when the hearings continue at the middle school auditorium today at noon.
Following the hearings, the public will be given 30 days to provide written comments on the charter school to the school board. Those comments can be sent to the hearing officer, Marc S. Fisher, by email at mfisher@fast.net or by regular mail to 2610 Walbert Ave No. 2, Allentown, PA 18104.
Once Fisher provides an opinion to the Pottsville Area school board, the board will vote again on the charter application.
Nicolle M. Hutchinson, the school’s CEO and director of education, and Pottsville Area Superintendent Jeffrey S. Zwiebel were advised by their attorneys not to make comments to the press about the hearings.