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State Officials Say District Failed to Meet the Needs of Deaf Student

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SPECIAL TO THE TIMES

State education officials have found that the Capistrano Unified School District failed to provide appropriate education to a deaf student whose parents challenged the district and helped open a private school for deaf children.

The California Special Education Hearing Office last week ordered the school district to come up with a plan to meet Maria Christina Olamendi’s needs this month.

Education officials found that the school district did not have the proper audiologist to help Maria Christina and that there were not enough deaf children enrolled in the program.

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District officials said on Thursday they will seek a reconsideration of the decision because they feel the program now meets state standards.

Doreen Lohnes, assistant superintendent of student services, said the district now has four students enrolled in the program with an additional two to be added in September. Lohnes said the district may offer a different audiologist, but the decision has not been made.

The girls’ parents, Carlos and Lissette Olamendi, had fought the district to provide appropriate eduction for their daughter, and then helped open a private school, Rancho Viejo School, in Rancho Santa Margarita last year.

The Olamendis wanted the school district to pay for their daughter’s tuition at the private school and argued that it was the responsibility of the district to provide proper education and educational facilities.

State officials said that the private school is not certified by the state and that the district did not have to pay for the private school.

“The district won the central issue,” Lohnes said. “We don’t have to fund Rancho Viejo.”

Lohnes said one main reason why the district did not want to pay the tuition is that Rancho Viejo is centrally located in the district.

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In addition to serving hearing-impaired students within the district, Capistrano Unified also serves students from Laguna Beach Unified School District and Saddleback Valley Unified School District, she said.

Lohnes also said the Crown Valley Elementary School program is better than the private school’s because it offers more professional support.

The Olamendis are not convinced that the district’s program is better.

“It’s been a very difficult process,” said Carlos Olamendi, who helped raise money to build Rancho Viejo. He said he was happy that after a long time of battling the district, the state ruled that the district is not providing proper education to his daughter.

Olamendi said the biggest problem was the audiologist’s inability to “monitor and assess the functioning of Maria Christina’s cochlear implant.”

Olamendi said he plans to keep Maria Christina enrolled at Rancho Viejo and will not enroll her in the district’s program.

Rancho Viejo, which bills itself as the only private school for the deaf and hard of hearing in the county that offers classes with mainstream students, has seven teachers and 42 students, five of whom are hearing impaired. Tuition is $450 per month, increasing to $525 per month for extended hours.

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Applications for the private school’s certification were submitted to the state more than eight months ago after complying with health, fire, social service and Department of Education codes, said Debbie Evans Warkentien, executive director of the school.

Warkentien said school officials have been waiting for a visit from state officials for certification since mid-April.

She said she expects to receive certification within the month.

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