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District Decision Sparks Backlash From Families

RROGANT.”

That’s what Ohlone Elementary School Special Education parent Lars Smith called the Palo Alto Unified School District Special Education Department’s recent decision to consolidate its elementary Special Education program.

The department announced in February that it would be closing the moderate/severe Special Education programs at Ohlone and Escondido Elementary School. As a result, 17 special education students currently at those schools will be relocated to Nixon and Barron Park elementary schools start -

According to Palo Alto S chool Board President Jennifer DiBrienza, the idea behind the change was to strengthen the special education programs at Nixon and Barron Park by splitting the program into two classes per school rather than one.

Currently at Escondido, Nixon, Barron Park and Ohlone elementary schools, there is only one moderate/severe special education class that includes students of all grades. By consolidating the program, Nixon and Barron Park will have two separate special education classes, one for second grade and below, and another for third through fifth graders.

“The change from having lots of your classrooms going from K-5 all in the same room to having classrooms that are K-2 and [grades] 3-5 [has] been long requested by our staff and sort of considered a best practice,” DiBrienza said. “We had had staff saying that ... it was too challenging to work with K-5 in the same room.”

Nonetheless, the decision was met with backlash from many who are impacted, particularly parents of children currently in the closing special education programs. Smith, whose son is a fourth grader in the special education program at Ohlone, said that he agrees with the intention behind the decision, but disagrees with the way that the district went about the decision-making