I am Janis White, the Immediate Past President of the Seattle Special Education PTSA. This is the third summer in a row that I have come to you to report significant issues with the delivery of recovery services and summer school programs to students with disabilities.
We have heard from families who have been asking for summer recovery services for student behavioral needs for months but were given no information about their student’s enrollment in a summer social skills camp until they received a letter from transportation at the end of last week. Because of the lack of information and communication, many families set up other summer programs for their children, which they are paying for and it’s too late for them to withdraw without losing their money. They should be reimbursed for those costs. Also, the District may be paying for programs that now turn out to be under-enrolled.
We have seen an email from staff at one of the outside agencies the District contracted with to provide a social skills camp. The email was dated Thursday, June 30th in the late afternoon. They report that they have not received a final roster of students for a camp starting on July 6 and have no contact information for families. Some families have reached out to them and shared that they have not been told of the camp’s location, dates or times. The agency representative said they were writing from a place of desperation to try to find out the names and contact information of the students enrolled in their summer camp.
We continue to see a huge disconnect between the upbeat reports to the School Board and the dysfunction that disabled children in our schools experience. Separately, our PTSA will be writing to you about the staffing crises that we have heard about in many schools this past year, the failure of students who were among the hardest hit by the pandemic to have their needs met and our grave concerns about experienced special education staff who are leaving the District.
Our disabled students are not ok. Please listen to families and teachers reporting these issues. There needs to be accountability, starting with significant communication improvements, and additional actions to fix the problems.
