HUNTINGTON BEACH : Peters Gets Teacher at Home Until Class Found

A 6-year-old boy at the center of an ongoing battle over the inclusion of special education students in mainstream classes has been assigned a home school teacher until a stalemate over his permanent school placement ends.

A teacher with the Ocean View School District began working with Jimmy Peters at home Monday, Supt. James R. Tarwater said.

Discussions with the boy’s father are continuing in an effort to find Jimmy a permanent class.

“In the district’s opinion, home teaching does not replace school,” Tarwater said.

With the home school program, the boy will receive five hours a week of academic lessons, five hours a week of speech therapy, 1 1/2 hours a week of special physical education at school and two hours a week of occupational therapy at a special center, Tarwater said.

Jim Peters, the boy’s father, could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

The district had planned for Jimmy to start school last week at Circle View Elementary, where school officials spent $5,000 on arrangements, including special training for a teacher and an aide, and preparing a classroom.

But Jim Peters pulled his son from the school, saying the district’s efforts were inadequate.

Ocean View administrators filed suit against Jimmy last spring seeking to remove him from a Circle View kindergarten class, saying he was disruptive and prone to violent outbursts.

A federal judge later sent Jimmy back to the class for the final days of school amid protests from some parents of his classmates.