State Checks Classes in Santa Ana

State Department of Education officials are investigating allegations that Santa Ana Unified School District’s special education program doesn’t meet state requirements.

The investigation, one of several being conducted in school districts across Orange County, is focused on complaints that the district’s program lacks appropriate books, access to computers and progress-monitoring, and that its classrooms are in poor condition--in some cases infested with rats or cockroaches. In late September, the department held two days of hearings on the matter at Santa Ana High School, interviewing parents and program administrators. The hearings will resume today.

School district officials declined to discuss the complaint in detail, but said they will follow any recommendations the state makes after the investigation. In addition to the Santa Ana Unified investigation, state officials are checking three complaints against Capistrano Unified School District, two against Fullerton School District, two against Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District, and one against Saddleback Valley Unified School District.

In her Aug. 10 complaint to state officials, Beatriz Salas said the programs her 15-year-old son, Moises, was enrolled in at McFadden Intermediate and Santa Ana High schools failed to give him appropriate resources and that his individual education program did not set goals, nor was it monitored for progress. Salas--whose son has mid-range mental retardation--said she visited other special education programs at several campuses.

“It was very sad seeing that all schools have the special education programs in a very bad shape,” she wrote in her complaint. “They also have them in classrooms in bad conditions, some schools have rats and cucarachas [cockroaches].”

Since then, the state has received a second complaint, which is also under investigation, state officials said. The two complaints come as the district has completed state-mandated corrective action in response to a complaint in November 1999 that 10 of its 36 resource specialists had caseloads greater than the state maximum of 28 students. In response, the department hired four additional specialists and reassigned other staff. The state closed that case June 1.

Mother’s Complaints Prompt State Probe

This week’s hearings also follow a multibillion-dollar settlement of a suit over the state’s failure to adequately fund special education mandates in California. Santa Ana Unified--which provides special education to 5,548 students on a $38.06-million budget--stands to gain about $2.5 million immediately and another $250,000 a year for the next 10 years under the settlement. Even with the extra funds, district officials said they still will have difficulty offering all the resources needed.

“Typically, in cases such as these, the problems are the result of funding--our inability to provide what we need to provide because we don’t have the funding,” district spokeswoman Lucy Araujo Cook said.

Salas said she began voicing her concerns to district officials in May 1999, appearing before the school board several times, but nothing changed. As her son prepared to graduate from McFadden Intermediate, she began reviewing the district’s high school programs. Last year, she enrolled him at Santa Ana High School, whose program is considered the best in the district. But when she visited her son’s class, she became alarmed that he was falling behind.

“The work that he was getting was too hard for him, and he wasn’t getting the help he needed,” Salas said. “I told them that when the kids get into high school, they’re so behind that they can’t read at their level, and they don’t get any help in English. They don’t read, and when they’re doing math, they don’t know if they are adding or subtracting.”

Assessing Students, Structure of Classes

Before a student is placed in special education, Santa Ana school officials said, specialists must first draft an individual education program. A case worker is assigned and is to meet regularly with the student to set goals and monitor progress. The district’s policy is to put as many special education students into mainstream classes as possible. The goal is to help prepare them for life after high school.

“You want the program to be as regular as it can be, so the student isn’t facing an environment or an ambience that is so atypical that it would cause isolation,” Santa Ana Unified Supt. Al Mijares said. “To have one school that is only for special education students would be very detrimental to the student--it’s segregation. There are cases--such as with students who are deaf and hard of hearing--where we have special programs to meet those students’ needs. But overall, we try to mainstream the students so their environment is more in line with society as a whole. . . . In the classroom, we want to keep things as typical as possible for the students.”

That can be a source of controversy--among educators and parents alike.

“You have some people who want to mainstream all students, and others who want to keep them in a protective environment,” said Audrey Yamagata-Noji, a longtime Santa Ana Unified school board member. “But to do that kind of work, it can be a very costly effort in terms of state mandates and the lack of adequate funding. . . . And then, of course, students . . . have a myriad of special needs, so it’s hard to develop a comprehensive program to meet each individual’s needs.”

Failure to follow through on a student’s individual program is a common complaint, said Ralph Scott, a manager with the state Department of Education’s special education division.

“The case management usually breaks down because nobody pays attention to it,” said Scott, who works to bring school districts into compliance with state standards. “You’ve got so many [individual education plans] that need to be evaluated on a regular basis, and you haven’t taken care of it.”

The source of the problem is usually a staffing or technology issue. And correcting things can be a challenge, mainly because it all boils down to money.

“Students who have special needs require special programs, and inevitably you have to talk about a special staff--a highly trained staff,” Mijares said. “You’ve got to put out far more money than you’re getting from the federal government.”

District Points to Lack of Funding

The district now gets $27.5 million from the state and federal government for special education. It must take $10.5 million a year from other district programs to make up the difference, said Don Stabler, the district’s associate superintendent of business services. He said the money from the settlement will barely make a dent.

Despite the funding crunch commonplace in most districts, state officials said formal investigations are relatively rare. Throughout Southern California, 650,000 youngsters are in special education programs.

“During the 1999-2000 school year, we processed 923 complaints, and 48 were in Orange County,” said Carol Purcell, an administrator of complaints for the state’s Management and Mediation Unit, Special Education Division.

If the state conducts a review and finds the district out of compliance, it will work with the district on a plan of action--usually one that can be completed within a year, Scott said. If the district fails to follow the plan, the department may take the district to court--a last resort the department hasn’t had to follow, Scott said.

As for Santa Ana Unified, Mijares said the district is poised to take whatever--if any--corrective action the state deems necessary.

“Obviously, we want what’s best for the student, and we stand ready to cooperate with the state,” Mijares said. “But as I mentioned, there is a fundamental dilemma, and that is finding and funding the most appropriate services for our special education students.”