HUNTINGTON BEACH : Peters Places Son in Home Study Program

After clashing with Ocean View School District officials this week over where his learning disabled child would attend school, Jim Peters enrolled him in a home study program, district officials said Friday.

This is the latest twist in an ongoing battle over the inclusion of special-education students in mainstream classes.

Peters has insisted that his 6-year-old son, Jimmy, attend regular class. But he was dissatisfied with the preparations the district made at Circle View Elementary School, where Jimmy was scheduled to start school on Wednesday and where he had attended preschool and kindergarten.

“This is a 180-degree turn from full inclusion,” said Supt. James Tarwater. “It’s ironic. We have done all of the training and are fully prepared in terms of a team, then (Peters) does not enroll his child” at the planned school.

Peters tried to enroll Jimmy in two other schools on Wednesday, but the district refused to allow the switch, saying the other schools were not prepared for the child, who they contend is disruptive and prone to violent outbursts.

Jimmy did not attend school all week and will be considered truant if he is not in class or enrolled in a home study program by Monday, officials said.

“It’s a temporary solution,” Peters said of the decision to enroll in home study. “My priority is Jimmy’s safety and setting up an appropriate program for him.”

In a locally unprecedented move, the district filed suit against Jimmy in May, seeking his ouster from Circle View school.

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 Jimmy returned.

Peters said Golden View and College View elementary schools, where he attempted to enroll Jimmy this week, are closer to his home and may include parents more sympathetic to the child.

“We’ve got a situation where (the district) is not giving us any assurances that the same situation isn’t going to happen all over again,” said Peters’ attorney, Joan Honeycutt. “That’s the real problem. We want assurances that Jimmy will not be subjected to the same emotional abuse that he was subjected to last spring.”

Until the stalemate between Peters and the district can be resolved, Jimmy will remain in home study where the district will provide speech and academic instruction for two hours a day.