HUNTINGTON BEACH : Jimmy Peters Again Misses Day of School

Jimmy Peters, the 6-year-old child at the center of an ongoing battle over the inclusion of special education students in mainstream classes, remained out of school again Thursday as a tussle between his father and the Ocean View School District continued.

A district official said the learning disabled first-grader could be declared truant if the stalemate over where he will attend classes continues until Monday.

The district wants Jimmy to attend Circle View Elementary School, where special preparations have been made for him. District officials say they have spent $5,000 to specially train Jimmy’s teacher and an aide and prepare a classroom at the school where the youngster attended kindergarten and preschool.

But the boy’s father, Jim Peters, has said the district’s efforts at Circle View are inadequate. He wants to enroll Jimmy at either Golden View or College View elementary schools, both of which are closer to his home and may include parents more sympathetic to his child, Peters has said.

On Wednesday, district officials rebuffed Peters’ efforts to enroll his son at either school.

Ocean View administrators tried to have Jimmy removed from a class at Circle View last spring, contending that he was disruptive and prone to violent outbursts. In a locally unprecedented move, the district filed suit against Jimmy in May, seeking his ouster.

But a federal judge sent Jimmy back for the final days of school amid protests from parents of his classmates, some of whom pulled their children from school when the child returned.

Peters and his lawyer, Joan Honeycutt, did not return telephone calls Thursday. But Ocean View Supt. James R. Tarwater said Jimmy, who missed the first day of classes Wednesday, did not attend school again Thursday.

Tarwater said that if Jimmy is not in class at Circle View or assigned a home teacher by Monday, he will be considered truant and his case will be referred to the district’s School Attendance Review Board.

The board “can refer the child to juvenile court and establish any kind of intervention to get him to come back to school,” Tarwater said.