Lawrence USD 497 school board

Once a student of color walks through the doors of a Lawrence public school building, he or she is more than twice as likely than a white student to be placed in programs for students with learning impairments.

And once flagged by teachers as such, many of those students tend to stay in special education programs for the remainder of their public education.

Those findings, from a summary report on the district’s special education program, were presented to the school board Monday and drew concern from several members.

“We know that as a nation we have a problem with special education services being disproportionate for students of color,” said school board member Vanessa Sanburn. “And our district has decided that, in addition to a lot of things, we want to take on that issue head-on, and we want to be a district where that’s not true.”

Owing to the placement rates of students of color in some special education categories, the district is categorized as “discrepant.” If the placement for students of color were to hit three times the rate of white students, the district would be labeled as “disproportionate” and subject to federal action.

Though the school district is technically in compliance with federal rules, Sanburn said that should not be the district’s goal.

“The federal guidepost or the federal requirement isn’t sufficient for us to judge ourselves on,” Sanburn said. “If we’re meeting that, that’s alone not good enough.”

Federal action, though, could come in another form. The report noted that there is an open complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, which investigates complaints of discrimination. It was also noted at least eight formal complaints were filed against the district within the past three years, five of which were either resolved or withdrawn.

The report was completed by the Center for Innovative School Leadership, and it includes various recommendations. One such recommendation is that the district should develop a plan to improve disproportionate representation of students of color in special education programs, and establish a goal that no group will be more than two times discrepant. It’s also recommended that the district set clear entry and exit guidelines for the program.

There are various special education categories, including learning disabled, intellectually disabled, developmentally delayed, emotionally disturbed, as well as autism and other disabilities. The 42-page summary report does not list the exact figures for each race and the specific special education program categories that students of color were more likely to be placed in.

The report also surveyed administrators, teachers and parents about the quality of the district’s special education program. Those results were mixed. For instance, 58 percent of the administrators feel there are recurring special education issues that need to be resolved. At the same time, of the parents surveyed, 71 percent believe their child is receiving educational services that help them improve academically.

In addition to the “discrepant” placement of students of color, some survey results indicated that teachers felt they needed more training in special education. District officials said they realized there were improvements that needed to be made.

“We know we have a lot of work to do,” said Kevin Harrell, executive director of student services. “Some of the things we’re aware of, some of the things we’re surprised at.”

When asked by board members what the next step would be, Harrell said that a committee would be assigned to work through all the data of the report, and that the district was in the process of setting up a parent advisory council on the topic.

“There’s a lot of things that we know we need to work on, but we do believe that working with our teachers and our parents that we can solve some of these,” Harrell said.