Special Education Program to Expand

The board of the Conejo Valley Unified School District has unanimously approved expansion of a program that integrates special-education students into their neighborhood schools.

The Learning Center pilot program, now at six district schools, will be expanded to 11 more schools, said school board member Elaine McKearn, who has a child with Down syndrome.

“In the past, many of these students have been isolated,” McKearn said. “This will give them the opportunity to participate in some of the same things that the rest of the students participate in.”

Most special-education students in the district now attend special day classes at three elementary schools.

Under the proposal, the classes for students in third, fourth, fifth and sixth grades at the special sites would be phased out and the students would be sent to classes at 17 neighborhood schools. The special-education students would continue to have special instruction at those schools, but they would be integrated into regular classroom instruction for part of the day.

Special day classes for students in preschool through second grade would remain at existing sites, as would classes for students with severe learning difficulties.

Forty-eight students in grades three to six with mild to moderate disabilities would be eligible to transfer to the new Learning Centers. Parents of about half of those students have expressed interest in the program.