By Kristine Thomas
Silverton residents Kim and Jessica Perkins want their 9-year-old daughter, Zen, to blossom and grow into a young woman who has a lifelong love of learning.
To achieve that objective, they believe Community Roots, a charter elementary school in the Silver Falls School District that follows the Montessori principles of hands on education is the best fit.
Zen, who has Down syndrome, attended CRS for portions of the 2012-13 school year. Down is a chromosomal condition that is associated with an intellectual disability. Children experience cognitive delays, but have the ability to learn, according to the National Down Syndrome Society.
The Perkins said the school district denied their request to have Zen attend CRS again this year.
According to the Perkins, the district wants to place Zen halftime each at Robert Frost and CRS. At Robert Frost Zen would be in a basic skills class.
“That might sound hunky-dory to some, but that means Zen is visiting two schools and she doesn’t belong to a community,” Jessica said, adding they have asked Zen be in a CRS classroom with a special education assistant.
Disagreeing with the district’s placement for several reasons, the Perkins filed a Request for Special Education Due Process Hearing on Sept. 3 with the Oregon Department of Education. By filing the request, it allows Zen to continue at Community Roots School until the dispute is resolved.
Crystal Greene, the communications director for the office of the deputy superintendent for the Oregon Department of Education, said, “a Due Process Complaint occurs when a parent of a child with a disability and a school district have a dispute regarding the identification, evaluation, educational placement or the provision of a free appropriate public education (FAPE).”
Due Process hearings are part of parents’ procedural safeguard rights under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act or IDEA, Greene said, adding there is a timeline and protocol for handling the complaint.
“If there is no agreement reached in the resolution session or mediation and the complainant doesn’t withdraw for other reasons, it will go to hearing,” Greene said.
The Perkins asked the district to consider mediation before filing the complaint. They said the district declined.
The district spent $3,400 for a facilitator and $2,400 for an attorney for mediation over the placement issue in June.
Jessica Perkins wishes the district understood the Montessori methods for learning were built for students like Zen.
In an email to Dr. Linda Brown, Jessica wrote, “…you have never once provided reason for me to think that Zen cannot be educated there. Regardless of where Zen attends school, she does not acquire skills at the same pace or in the same manner as other typical peers. Zen is different and that is OK; as long as she is learning the bigger life lessons of how to be a member of a community and how to communicate with peers and how to learn on her own. There is no better place for Zen to learn than in the Montessori classroom.”
Jessica added that the school district believes Zen can “only be taught in a special segregated classroom… Yet Zen has learned and succeeded in a regular education setting for many years.” For kindergarten and first grade, Zen was in a regular classroom in Sitka, Alaska. By the end of first grade, she was almost reading at first grade level, her mom said.
Jessica and Kim said Zen enjoys being at CRS and when she was enrolled in a special education class, she did not want to go to school.
“It was a battle every morning,” Kim said. “That’s not like Zen. She is a pleaser and she wants to make people happy.”
Julie Cevallos is the vice president of marketing for the National Down Syndrome Society in New York City. According to the NDSS website, there are more than 400,000 people living with Down syndrome in the United States. About 5,000 children are born each year with Down syndrome in the U.S.
Her daughter, who is in kindergarten, has Down syndrome and has a full time aide in a regular classroom.
“The school system is obligated to use the least restrictive environment for a child to learn,” Cevallos said. “If a typical classroom is where the child will do better, that’s where the child should be.”
A child will mirror the behavior of her peers, Cevallos added.
Too often people assume because a child has Down syndrome, she is unable to learn, she said.
“People with Down syndrome will learn,” Cevallos said. “Their learning is slower, but they can learn.”
She encourages people working with a child who has Down syndrome to “be open minded and assume competence. The higher the expectations, the better they will do. If you assume they can’t learn or patronize them those are the results you are going to get.”
As a parent, she knows how important it is for a school district to listen to her input.
“There should be collaboration with parents and the school,” she said. “The parents have to be listened to because they know what’s best for their child.”
Bellando said federal law restricts district personnel from sharing protected information of a student.
He can speak generally about the process of placing a child with special needs in the least restrictive learning environment.
“There are parents who have moved to the Silver Falls School District specifically for our special education programs,” he said. “I believe this district does an exceptional job working with parents, students and staff members to provide the least restrictive environment for all special needs students to learn.”
Bellando said each special education student has an IEP or Individual Education Plan. Using the quantifiable data based on a child’s IEP, the district provides the least restrictive environment for a child to receive a quality education. According to federal law, each child is entitled to a Free Appropriate Public Education that “is reasonable within the support programs provided by the district,” Bellando said.
To educate a child with special needs can cost the district $10,000 to $100,000 a year, depending on the child’s disability. To educate the average student costs $6,000 to $7,000, Bellando added.
“The IEP is the road map that is used to help the school district provide the least restrictive environment for that child,” Bellando said.
Jessica has at least 10 binders, at least 4-inches thick of the material she has collected since Zen enrolled with the district in September of 2011. She has her law degree from Lewis and Clark and works for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Kim is a graduate of the University of Washington with a degree in fisheries and wildlife. He manages his family’s property and is a stay-at-home dad.
As parents, they have seen the difference in their daughter from being in a “segregated environment” to be in the Montessori school.
The Perkins have been told that Zen’s educational disabilities are too great to be in a regular classroom and that she can’t keep pace with the regular students
“Zen has a communication and an intellectual disability,” Jessica said. “She is not going to learn at the same pace as a regular student but that doesn’t mean she can’t learn.”
In a district with the motto, “Every Child is a Promise,” the Perkins were disappointed to receive an email from an educational assistant that their daughter was “a bit of a pill.”
They have heard her described as stubborn and uncooperative. They’ve had conversations with staff on how to best work with Zen.
“Zen sees people intuitively,” Jessica said. “If someone is shining her on and patronizing her, she won’t respond. If someone is sincere and comfortable around Zen, then she will be sincere and comfortable. If her instructors aren’t making her feel like she is worth anything and have low expectations, she won’t respond. Zen has a disability and she should be accommodated for the disability.”
“Kids need to be confident, comfortable and secure to learn,” Kim said. “Zen wasn’t feeling that way. Now she is. She enjoys being at Community Roots. If we went with what the school district recommends for Zen, we believe she would be in an environment that is not good for her.”
