Kindergarten Ordered to Enroll Paralyzed Girl in Regular Class

The Palos Verdes Peninsula Unified School District has been ordered to allow a 6-year-old girl, paralyzed from the neck down, to enroll in a regular kindergarten class despite the district’s contention that she belongs in a special class with other handicapped children.

State hearing officer Spencer Joe ordered the district to place Stephanie Stratford in the Rancho Vista School, the school closest to her home. He also ordered the district to provide her with a classroom aide and bus service to and from school.

Allan and Nancy Stratford, Stephanie’s parents, received Joe’s ruling, dated last Friday, this weekend in the mail.

“It feels like a couple of thousand of pounds have been taken off my shoulders,” Nancy Stratford said Sunday. “We are thrilled, absolutely thrilled.”

Uses Respirator

She said she and her husband will take Stephanie, who was born with a tumor on her spinal cord and needs a respirator to stay alive, to school today so that she doesn’t miss the first day of class. Two of the couple’s three other young children also are enrolled in the school, she said.

Jack Price, the district’s superintendent, said Sunday that he had not yet seen a copy of the order and would have no comment until he read it.

However, Sharon Watt, the district’s attorney, said she will recommend to school officials that the order be appealed to state or federal court. “I don’t think any judge in town would see this as a tenable situation,” she said.

Joe’s order followed a five-day hearing by the state Office of Administrative Hearings that concluded late last month in Palos Verdes.

The hearing was called after the Stratfords objected to a decision by Los Angeles County and Palos Verdes school officials that the girl should be taught by special education teachers in a class with other handicapped children and allowed to attend regular classes for only a part of the school day.

Mentally Alert

During the hearing, school officials did not dispute that Stephanie, who for all practical purposes is quadriplegic, is mentally alert and capable of doing the work required of kindergarten students. She uses an oversized wheelchair that she drives with her chin, and paints and draws by placing a stylus in her mouth.

However, the officials contended that placing her in a regular classroom is impractical because of the constant medical attention that she requires. They also argued that a regular classroom teacher would have to spend an inordinate amount of time with her, to the detriment of other students.

A special education teacher who had taught the girl at a county-operated school for the handicapped testified that she is “probably the second most handicapped” child that she had dealt with in 15 years as a teacher. The teacher said she believes it would be impossible for Stephanie to keep up with students in a regular classroom.

But in his order, Joe wrote that the district failed to provide convincing evidence to support its claim that Stephanie is a “medically high-risk student.” Although Stephanie is dependent on a respirator, a trained person could monitor the machine without difficulty, he wrote.

Fails to Meet Requirement

Joe also wrote that federal law requires that handicapped children be educated with non-handicapped children to the “maximum extent possible,” and that the school district’s decision to place Stephanie in a classroom for orthopedically handicapped children fails to meet the requirement.

Although Stephanie will need an aide, as provided by state law, to help her in the classroom, Joe wrote that she would not require any more instructional assistance than any other kindergarten student. Such an aide, he said, would have time to assist other students with their work once Stephanie’s needs are attended to.

“Stephanie doesn’t need special attention from a teacher,” Nancy Stratford said. “There is absolutely no difference in the way Stephanie learns than from any other child.”