Last school year, parents whose children attended a public school district in Missouri were upset. Their kids, who were part of the Special Education program, were being taught in trailers instead of classrooms. Despite parents threats to remove their children from the school district, nothing has changed now that the new school year has begun.
Just a few months ago, as the school year was coming to a close, there was a controversy happening. The Lebanon School District, a public school district in Missouri, had placed the students who were in the Special Education program into two trailers. In other words, the children were not being taught in an actual classroom, or inside the main school building.
The Special Education students were in elementary school. The trailers, however, were located on the grounds of the Lebanon Junior High School. This meant that the children who were being taught inside the trailers had absolutely no opportunity to be included into general education classrooms with their peers. They were not able to share a lunchroom with other students who were their age, and in their grades.
The parents of the children were outraged. There is a federal law that says that students who have special needs must be kept in an environment that does not restrict them from interacting with their peers. The Missouri Department of Education actually mentions the trailers, (also called modular units), in its definition of discrimination against special needs students.
Many parents wanted their children to be taught in an actual classroom that was located inside the elementary school building. Several said they would rather homeschool their children, or move out of the district, in order to avoid having their child spend another school year in a trailer.
The new school year has recently started. Sadly, nothing has changed. The Lebanon School District has kept the trailers in place, (at the Junior High School), and has assigned the Special Education classrooms for elementary school students to the trailers.
Parents have already started pulling their kids out of the school district. A group of parents has started homeschooling their children. It is really sad that the Lebanon School District chose to do absolutely nothing about the concerns of the parents of their Special Education students. It is especially troubling that the school district decided to keep things the same even after it was pointed out that the situation is discriminatory and breaks federal law.
Image by Renato Ganoza on Flickr