Special Education Main Topic at Candidate Forum

Special education was the main topic during Sunday's school board candidate forum, although there was some discussion of the proposed school budget.

All five candidates running for the three slots on the board—Michael Birnberg, Lise Chapman, Amy Justice, Manish Shah and Rona Wenik—were present for the forum sponsored by M-SPEC, the parent special education advocacy group. Many of them agreed on many different issues.

There was discussion of the middle school not attaining adequate yearly progress under the federal No Child Left Behind Act last spring.

Shah said the imposed standards are a good start, but the district didn't meet those standards. There needs to be accountability because school officials are spending money on a program that didn't deliver what it should.

Chapman said the explanation was the test got harder for students, but that's not good enough. The curriculum needs evaluation, including the middle school's study skills class. Right now it's a hodgepodge without any curriculum. Chapman said that should be the class where students learn how to ask questions, prepare for a test and give presentations.

Birnberg said money isn't the issue but rather making sure it is spend wisely. School officials need to look where there are issues and how they should be improved to the school board.

Wenik said the reaction to the scores should be measured. The administration took immediate response and are making strives to improve the program. The tests show school officials what they need to work on.

Justice said she supports changes to the middle school study skills program, She doesn't want to see teachers teaching to the test, but it would be the type of class where students could practice the types of questions that appear on the test.

There also was a question on the decision to charge for the integrated preschool program in the proposed 2010-11 school budget. The regular education students' families would be charged $3,000 per year, and there still would be an equal balance of special education and regular education students.

Justice said her son is on the list for the lottery, but he is very low. But if he happened to be chosen, she would be willing to pay the cost. The program is special and it was a gift to have it for free.

Shah said there's an education and economic issue with the decision. The school district needs the revenue, so the decision was not education-driven. But school officials need to make sure the revenue decision does not have an education impact.

Chapman said the program has been oversubscribed for years and she supports the decision to charge. Regular education parents can choose many different preschool programs. It's been a luxury to have the program for free, and she believes the program still will be popular.

Birnberg said he's not necessarily opposed to user fees, but he worries about creating a system of the haves and the have nots.

Wenik said the preschool program is a jewel of the district, and she would have gladly paid $3,000 to send her children through the program. It's a reasonable price considering some preschool programs charge $10,000. A free program is a luxury and it's not something the district can afford during these economic times.

On the budget as a whole, Wenik said there are many different things in play for the future. There are fixed costs that aren't quite fixed. Plus the board doesn't know the future with a 2.5 percent cap on property tax increases. It's not a given the cap would pass voters in November.

Justice said there are ways to save money, including teachers training other teachers. Old materials could be repurposed.

Shah said the district needs to find efficiencies in addition to any cuts that need to be made. Holding up the pages to the budget proposal, he said it's not easy for anyone to analyze it and make the cuts. It's up to the board to decide what's most important and protect those aspects.

Chapman said the school board has used surplus to keep taxes down, but that game is over. The board will need to find a way to make up $1 million to $5 million a year from now. Zero-based budgets should be built where every cost is justified.

Birnberg said there are people who are saying the board should raise taxes to save certain programs, but it would still mean a gap in the budget a year from now. "There's going to be a shortage," he said. The board needs to find ways to maintain the program with the money it has, but they're not learning everything they know. Some districts are outsourcing their special education aides, which could save the district a great deal of money, Birnberg said. But he only learned about it on Friday.

In a rare moment when the candidates engaged each other, Wenik responded to Birnberg and said it's an incredible thing when residents want their taxes increased. It needs to be considered because it doesn't happen often. Also, the board needs to look at alternative revenues like user fees.

The candidates also answered a question on how to handle bullying and hazing in the district.

Chapman said it's an ongoing issue, and she, along with Wenik, has been a member of the task force analyzing the issue following last fall's hazing incident. But the issues start in kindergarten and there needs to be monitoring starting then. The district also had a program 10 years ago that Rutgers University started. It became a landmark program to handle social skills, but the district eliminated it eight years ago. Some parents still question why it was eliminated.

Birnberg said the hazing at the high school and the infamous slut list has been going on for 25 years because he knows someone who was on the list 25 years ago. The issues also come from parents, and they need to be educated too. There also needs to be zero tolerance for hazing and bullying. "At some point it needs to stop," he said. "There needs to be real punishment."

Wenik said district officials are taking the issues seriously. She doesn't think what happened last fall will happen again. School officials already are talking to the juniors about how the behavior is not acceptable.

Justice said there needs to be zero tolerance for hazing and bullying. She supports peer leadership programs and described a program at Rutherford High School, where she was teaching, where students spent a weekend learning leadership skills.

Shah said the school district does well to react to incidents like the hazing. But school officials need to be proactive and see what could happen next to prevent it. It's much harder to do.

On the special education program as a whole and if it could do better, Shah said district officials shouldn't be making the easy decisions without examining them closely. He cited the decision to charge for the integrated preschool for regular education students. "I hope these decisions are examined and not just doing it because it's the easy choice for revenue," he said.

Chapman said the special education program needs an evaluation and review, which hasn't been done previously. That process is going on now.

Wenik said it's important to make sure every student is getting the same wonderful education from the earliest days. It's also important to have regular and special education students integrated into the same classroom.

As students get older, she said, the number of students classified with special needs are coming down. It shows the district's system is working.

Justice said she's not in the district yet—her oldest will be entering kindergarten soon—so she's not sure what is offered, but she believes it's important to talk to parents through organizations like M-SPEC and students. But integration is the goal, she said, and students should be given every opportunity to be involved of all aspects of school.

Birnberg said it's been helpful that M-SPEC has become more active. Now the school board and the administration knows of some of the issues.

Someone submitted a question asking how to solve the issue where some may feel students have an unfair advantage for receiving special education services.

Burnberg said it's the job of the administration to make sure there's a balance. Parents have one idea of what's proper, but the administrators have the say on where the balance lies.

Wenik said the question is more for the administration than the school board. Administrators are the ones making the call on who is eligible for services and how to balance it.

Justice, a former teacher, said she could see how some parents could feel there is an unfair advantage. Some students only get two choices for responses while the majority get all four. It's done, though, to level the playing field not to give any students an unfair advantage.

Shah said there are questions of minorities when it comes to affirmative action, and he feels special education sometimes has that same effect on students. There needs to be transparency for the process and parents won't be upset.

Chapman said special education needs are reviewed on a case-by-case basis. The programs do put students on a level playing field. It doesn't make the children any smarter, she said.

The group also was asked about what issues lie within the board that need to be fixed.

Birnberg said the communication between the board and the administration has become an issue in the last year. There has been unbridled authority to tax and spend, which he doesn't like. The governor has made school officials wake up and analyze how every dollar is spent.

Wenik said she has been outspoken about the school board's openness to hearing the opinions of the community. She cited how Tuesday night there was an awkward pause when the board president asked to open the meeting to public comment. She also mention the superintendent search and how the community was not allowed to interview candidates. There needs to be a civil tone between the board and the community. But Wenik said it goes both ways too. The community also needs to treat the board with respect.

Justice said many parents haven't been to a board meeting,  but she thinks parents should be involved at the earliest phases.

Shah said in the past there have only been three people running for three slots on the board. More people need to run, he said, and more people need to vote. The board oversees an $85 million budget, and voters need to remember why they elected the people they do.

Chapman said in the last six years there has been complete turnover on the board, which brings in a different point of view and questions. There has been a breakdown in communication. She thinks the board should dedicate one of its two meetings per month to working and the other to voting. It would allow people to see how the board works.