Ruling Says Schools Were Out of Compliance : Ventura: A federal agency says the district has since improved its handling of students with learning disorders.

The Ventura Unified School District was out of compliance with federal law last year by not addressing an 11-year-old boy’s learning disorders on a timely basis, the U.S. Department of Education has found.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights determined that the district did not act quickly enough in putting together a special education program after determining that Louis Gorenfeld suffered from hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder, characterized by an extremely short attention span and disruptive behavior.

In a Jan. 22 letter to the boy’s parents, the education department said the school district, while providing therapy for the boy’s speech disorder, did not adequately consider evaluations in his medical and school records that indicated the additional disorders.

And when a district evaluation of the boy in February, 1990, discovered the hyperactivity and attention-deficit disorder, officials did not act quickly enough to come up with a plan to address the problems, the letter said.

However, since the boy’s parents, William and Susanna Gorenfeld, filed a complaint against the school district on Aug. 24, 1990, the district has come into compliance with federal regulations, said John E. Palomino, the education department’s regional civil rights director in San Francisco.

To come into compliance, the district agreed to move more quickly in dealing with the problems of other children with certain special education needs, including attention-deficit disorder.

The district also has appointed an administrator to monitor the district’s future compliance with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the law under which the Gorenfelds’ complaint was filed.

Still, Susanna Gorenfeld contends that her son’s disorder has yet to be addressed.

Ideally, Gorenfeld said, she would like the district to set up a program at one school site for children with attention-deficit disorders. Such a program should have fewer students per teacher than regular classrooms, psychological counseling and remedial help in developing motor skills, she said.

The next step in the Gorenfelds’ case is for a hearing to be scheduled between them and district administrators, which is to be monitored by an impartial mediator, to come up with a special program for their son.

The Gorenfelds filed their complaint on behalf of Louis and other children in the district with attention-deficit disorder, maintaining that such children are being denied a “free appropriate public education” as required under federal and state law.

Palomino said investigators are looking into two other complaints from parents of students with attention-deficit disorder in the Ventura Unified School District.

Riccardo Nargie, the district’s director of special education, said he is not allowed to discuss the details of cases such as Louis Gorenfeld’s.

Two years ago, the district was embroiled in a controversy regarding a dyslexic student whose parents complained that Ventura Unified had inadequate programs to deal with their daughter’s needs.

They said she qualified for a special private school under federal law, and the district agreed to pay 30% of the girl’s $25,000-a-year expenses at a Massachusetts boarding school. The rest of her expenses was paid by the state Department of Education.

Attorney Barry Zolotar, deputy general counsel at the state Department of Education, said neither the state nor federal government provides funds for special programs for children with attention-deficit disorder.

However, federal officials are seeking comments from parents, teachers and other education experts as part of a study on whether funding should be provided for public school programs for such students.

The outcome of the federal study could increase the obligations of local districts to provide programs for students with attention-deficit disorder, Zolotar said.

If that happens, Nargie said, the additional costs that financially strapped school districts may incur to accommodate such students--by some estimates as many as 25% of all students--could be devastating.

“This could break the bank,” Nargie said. “There’s a real fear that districts nationwide would be hard-pressed to deal with it financially.”

In Louis Gorenfeld’s case, part of the reason for the district’s delay in coming up with a special program may have been the parents’ “inability to attend scheduled meetings or lack of cooperation,” the education department’s letter said.

Susanna Gorenfeld said she was unable to schedule meetings for several months because she was ill.

But in the parents’ absence, district officials should have continued meeting to come up with a plan to address Louis’ needs, the letter said. They then should have submitted it to the Gorenfelds for their approval, the letter said.

Although Louis has a high IQ and was in a district program for gifted students, his mother, a former teacher, and his father, an attorney, contend that his disorder inhibits his learning ability and requires a calmer setting than a regular classroom. He also needs an aide to help him control his behavior, the parents said.

Gorenfeld said her son was punished by school officials and taunted by classmates because of behavior problems stemming from the disorder. The Gorenfelds have enrolled their son in an open-classroom program at Blanche Reynolds Elementary School, his mother said. That program is designed to allow children to learn at their own pace in a less structured setting.