Trash should be a choice. Not special ed job training.
- Suzanne Dolan
- Aug 17, 2023
- 5 min read
Truth. Jack was placed in a Special Education program called Life Skills”. The “Life Skills” program is for the most vulnerable population. The “Life skills” program may modify curriculum or even replace it to meet the student where they are in education. Side note, our school district has never ticked the box for cognitive delay, but he’s in a program for severe cognitive delay. (That’s going to be another blog). Jack is low verbal. The school district has not provided AT (Assistive Technology) for core classes such as Science, History, Health, Social Studies. Without subject related AT, how could they possibly know what he knows? I assume that they just assume because their findings are not based on measurable data.
One day I was talking to a girl who goes to a high school within our school district. It is the high school that Jack would eventually go to if he were attending public school. She is a lovely girl. She causally mentioned that she sees the special ed kids clean up trash all the time.
This is the moment in the movie where there is no sound. The camera angle would go into an extreme close-up to get my reaction shot. My mind montage flashes to portions of his IEP. I think of the meetings with school district administration. I complain that there are two hours a day they cannot and will not account for in their “proposed IEP”. I insist and tell them he needs communication support every minute of the day. Communication should be bell to bell during the school day. I remind him he is low verbal, and they have not provided AAC or AT. I show professional guidelines for school aged students with Childhood Verbal Apraxia. They say no. “No. No. No.”
As the images and dialogue start jumbling together, it is like at the end of the movie when you realize the little boy saw dead people the whole time and you feel so stupid for not noticing all the clues along the way. But now, I see all the clues and I feel like such a failure.
I ask several middle schoolers I know if they see kids in “Life Skills” picking up trash. They say yes. I ask them if everyone picks up the trash. They all say “no.” I ask a few high schoolers the same questions and get the same answers. I ask a college aged camp counselor who attended the same school district. And she remembers seeing the special ed kids cleaning up trash as well. Not all the kids. Just the “Life Skills” kids. Destined, in the eyes of their teachers I suppose, to a life of menial servitude.
I’m not blinking back tears. I hear a click. Click. Click. Click. My inner bear is trying to light it all on fire. WHAT DO I DO WITH THIS INFORMATION? Do all the other parents know? Am I the only fool who didn’t see this? It has taken me months to just process the reality. This is so beyond a school district underestimating him. They do not even see him. ..But the problem is, they don’t see any of the “Life Skills” kids. The very people who are there to protect and help are the same ones who supervise their discrimination. I don’t know what to do with this information or where to put this grief.
There is so much the school district doesn’t know about him. He has a photographic memory. He can map a place he hasn’t been to in years in two minutes. He can make an aerial map after hiking flat land. You could spin him around and ask him which way is California and he will point in the correct direction.
They will never know. Because when they look at him, they reduce him to free labor. Not everyone. Just the special ed kids. Just the most vulnerable. That is what our school district sees. I want to throw up. As nice as everyone is, the acceptable culture is supervising the “Life Skills” kids cleaning up after everyone else. Trash should be a choice. Not job training starting in middle school.
I wish it wasn’t true. I wish I was making it up. I wish I was a liar. But I’m not. My inner bear doesn’t just see a trash collector when she sees his little bear. My inner bear doesn’t see where trash pick-up is part of the educational curriculum. My inner bear sees the skills and gifts he has.
His little bear makes me a better person. His little bear lets me borrow his glasses so I can see the colors he does. There are so many more colors than I could have ever imagined before I knew him. I am beyond grateful.
I had no idea that trash collection was part of the middle school or high school curriculum for the “Life Skills” program. I am pretty sure that other parents don’t know either or there would be outrage.
So… where do we go from here? Start the conversation. Ask. Ask kids and parents if they have ever noticed the “Life Skills” kids picking up trash. Then ask them If they do as well. If the typical kids in regular education do not have trash pick-up in their schedules, then gather more information. Ask if they remember what days and times. Once you have the information, start to get your clues together as facts. Once you have the facts do what you can to stop it.
School districts must obey state education code, or the state can withhold funding. State Offices of Public Instruction must obey Federal Education Codes, or the Federal government can withhold funding. When the school district is out of compliance (when they don’t follow education code) they can get fined. A school district and state OPI will respond to compliance because it could mean money. If you need to file a state complaint, do your best to back it into state education code. Get a few friends together and look over the wording. It’s okay to get it wrong a few times while you learn how to get it right.
As a parent or guardian, you have a right to have the same information as kids in general education. General education students have a schedule that is predictable. The only variation in schedule would be bathroom or water breaks, going to the nurse’s office, school functions, etc. The school must have a reasonable idea of student location during the time they are within the school’s care. If they are scheduled for Spanish class, chances are they are in class, or the teacher can account for them. It is reasonable for all parents and guardians to know where your student is and what they are doing.
I am not willing to let a school district discriminate and tell Jack that picking up trash is one of his “jobs” if it is not everyone’s job. I will be brave. I will advocate. I will borrow his glasses to see his world. I am not willing to force him to take mine. If I do, his inner bear might adjust and never see the same colors again.
What are the educational code to reference for trash pick up? |
Federal Education Code: Sec. 300.114 LRE requirements |
(2) Each public agency must ensure that— (ii) Special classes, separate schooling, or other removal of children with disabilities from the regular educational environment occurs only if the nature or severity of the disability is such that education in regular classes with the use of supplementary aids and services cannot be achieved satisfactorily. |
Your State: |
Online search: Your state LRE requirements. |
Your School District: |
Email: Student Case worker (usually SPED teacher) ask for email response. Ask for curriculum student is using for instruction in both the SPED and general education environment and daily schedule. |
How do you know if your student was on trash patrol? Ask to see your student's record. The school logs who, what, why and where for all students. |
Federal Education Code: Sec. 300.613 Access rights |
(a) Each participating agency must permit parents to inspect and review any education records relating to their children that are collected, maintained, or used by the agency under this part. The agency must comply with a request without unnecessary delay and before any meeting regarding an IEP, or any hearing pursuant to §300.507 or §§300.530 through 300.532, or resolution session pursuant to §300.510, and in no case more than 45 days after the request has been made. (b) The right to inspect and review education records under this section includes— (1) The right to a response from the participating agency to reasonable requests for explanations and interpretations of the records; (2) The right to request that the agency provide copies of the records containing the information if failure to provide those copies would effectively prevent the parent from exercising the right to inspect and review the records; and (3) The right to have a representative of the parent inspect and review the records. |
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/f/300.613 |
Your State: |
Online Search: Your state's
|
Your School District |
Online search: Student SPED record request example. Email (automatic time/ date stamp) or send a record request registered mail. First: ask for the entire record to be emailed to you. (This is an easy way to reference which documents were shared with you.) Or: If that is not possible, ask them to mail the records to you. Ask them to number every page so you can be sure that they send you the entire record.. You may also ask for a Student access log. (Which adults were with your student/ when.) When you receive the file: Look for specific dates, classes, etc. that you feel are questionable. Look for IEP goals, curriculum, educational targets and ask for the data or data collection sheets for all of them. |
Why does filing a state complaint matter? |
If you're having this sort of issue. There are going to be a few issues that have "fallen between the cracks". Systematic failures are not limited to one student. If a school district will not comply with education law, they have to once complaints are filed. If the state education department starts to get complaints, that paves the way for change. |
Federal Education Code: Sec. 303.430 State dispute resolution options |
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/c/e/303.430 |
Federal Education Code: Sec. 300.604 Enforcement |
(c) Needs substantial intervention. Notwithstanding paragraph (a) or (b) of this section, at any time that the Secretary determines that a State needs substantial intervention in implementing the requirements of Part B of the Act or that there is a substantial failure to comply with any condition of an SEA’s or LEA’s eligibility under Part B of the Act, the Secretary takes one or more of the following actions: (1) Recovers funds under section 452 of GEPA. (2) Withholds, in whole or in part, any further payments to the State under Part B of the Act. (3) Refers the case to the Office of the Inspector General at the Department of Education. (4) Refers the matter for appropriate enforcement action, which may include referral to the Department of Justice. |
https://sites.ed.gov/idea/regs/b/f/300.604 |
I am scared that the school district will fight back and punish my child if I file a complaint. |
Do what feels right. Start the conversation with other people. Do what you can. Consider how to advocate anonymously. |
There is no shame in protecting your little bear. I understand and so will others. DO NOT BLAME YOURSELF. There will be a time and a place when the school district can't bully you. That day will start a new chapter in your advocacy story. |
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