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Pontiac holds special education forum
By Tony Sapochetti
tsapochetti@pantagraph.com
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PONTIAC -- Parents and others at a forum Tuesday said Pontiac’s elementary and junior high schools generally do a good job with special education, but federal regulations often get in the way.

About 40 people attended the event called by the Illinois State Board of Education as part of the state’s assessment of the school district’s handling of special education. The district’s special education students did not score as well as the general student population on the 2005-06 Illinois Standards Achievement Test, and state officials are visiting the district to determine what can be done.

“Pontiac is doing great things … and they have taken the initiative to step up,” said state board representative Dawn Camacho. “We want to help them think of the next steps.”

State board representatives said they called the forum to get a better understanding of how parents viewed the current curriculum and the score gap.

“We can identify what is going well with the district and how we can better help students with IEP (individualized education programs),” she said. “We want to know why there is a gap between students with disabilities and students without disabilities.”

One parent who spoke was Tracy Doerr, Pontiac, mother of a fifth-grade special education student. She disagreed with a rule mandating that special-education students have to be in a class with other students in their same age range.

“I was told that a child should be grouped with their peers even if they are not ready for the next grade level and specific work,” Doerr said. “I think (special education students) need to be with people on their same level, but they keep getting passed on.”

She said promoting students into higher grades impedes their reading development.

“I believe that in higher grades, the curriculum gets more diverse and they are not focused on the core subjects like reading,” she said. “If they struggle through reading, then it takes them longer to do any subject where reading is involved.”

The federal No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 also came under fire. The law states that 100 percent of students should be proficient on state tests by 2014.

Many parents said special education students should not be compared to children who are not in special education, and they really shouldn’t be tested in general.

For the state tests, students are grouped by grade level and not actual learning capabilities. For example, all fifth-grade students, special education or not, will take the fifth grade ISAT.

Some parents viewed No Child Left Behind as an unachievable goal, but some said that it has set a standard for improvement. Camacho No Child Left Behind is going through a reauthorization process that could change the goals. She also encouraged parents to voice their concerns on the state and federal level by mailing their members of Congress.

The state board will continue examining student files, conducting interviews with teachers and administration and observe classes before making a report on their findings, Camacho said. The process began on Tuesday and will end Thursday.

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Reader comments on this story - 1 total

Note: All views and opinions expressed in reader comments are solely those of the individual submitting the comment, and not those of the Pantagraph or its staff.

Taxpayer wrote on Nov 29, 2007 8:16 AM:

" One problem that I see as a resident of district 429 is that the administrators are hiring the relatives of other teachers. Are we the taxpayer getting the best teachers or are we getting a system of nepotism? All anyone needs to do is to get a list of not only the staff list of District 429 but of District 90 and check out how many husbands, wives, parents and children work at these 2 Pontiac school districts. An administrator for District 90 hires the relative of a district 429 administrator because a relative of his works for the other one. I think that the public needs to demand some tough hiring rules for the school boards to adhere to. Many large companies and other taxing bodies have very strict rules about hiring relatives and districts 429 and 90 need to have rules like this also. "
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