The state reverses a policy that had taken away special education services to some private school students in Rhode Island.

01:00 AM EST on Sunday, April 2, 2006

BY JENNIFER D. JORDAN
Journal Staff Writer

An abrupt, unpublicized change in state education policy last summer caused dozens of students in private schools throughout Rhode Island to lose special education services for several months.

In a hasty decision that the Rhode Island Department of Education now acknowledges was a mistake, officials told cities and towns in July that they no longer had to pay for special education services for students whose parents chose to send them to private school. Between 400 and 600 children in Rhode Island fall into this category, according to the state Education Department.

However, after concerns were raised by angry parents and confused school officials, and a lawsuit was filed in November by a North Kingstown family whose 9-year-old son was shut out of services, the Education Department reversed the policy change.

While federal law does not require cities and towns to pay for services such as speech, occupational and physical therapy, tutoring and extra help for children "parentally placed" in private school, state law is more generous and does require such services, Peter McWalters, commissioner of education, clarified in a Dec. 9 advisory.

"We are now instructing the districts that they retain a separate and additional obligation under the state regulations," McWalters wrote.

It is unclear how many students lost services; officials at the Education Department said they do not keep track of such numbers. But a random sampling of six private schools found that five of them said they each had at least several students shut out of services for as many as four to six months. One school still has a child not receiving services. Several principals said they knew of children who had transferred out of their schools in the fall, when their parents learned that services would not be provided.

The parents who filed the lawsuit, Greg and Suzanne Mancini, said they are outraged state officials would suddenly decide to cut off services to their son and other students like him.

"I trusted a system that let me down," Suzanne Mancini said. "No one was in a rush to fix this, which, as a parent, outrages me. Students need services when they get to school, right away, in September."

Tony Batista, assistant principal of Our Lady of Mercy in East Greenwich where the Mancinis enrolled their son, said the school had 15 to 20 students who went without services until December. A dozen students at St. Pius X in Westerly went without speech therapy until January, said principal Henry Fiore Jr.

Batista said the Education Department's policy change in July and McWalters' change of opinion in December has been confusing for parents, students and schools.

"The way it has been handled has made for very poor public relations with the parents," Batista said.

THE TROUBLE started last summer, when the federal government made an "unexpected, last-minute" decision that threw the state Education Department in turmoil, according to Jennifer Wood, chief legal counsel for the department.

The federal government made a major change to the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. As of last summer, the responsibility for special education costs switched from the district where the student lives to the district where the student goes to private school.

Anticipating outcry and concern from financially strapped school districts with large numbers of private schools, such as Providence, the state Department of Education moved quickly to address the change, and issued a "quick and dirty guidance" to local school districts, telling them they no longer had to pay for "parentally placed" students, Wood said in an interview in her office.

"There was a belief, on the part of the department, which was in fact wrong," Wood said. "When we became aware of the impact on students not receiving IEP [Individual Education Plan] services, we began to rethink the advice that [we had] given."

In November, the Mancinis filed their lawsuit in Superior Court.

Their 9-year-old son was diagnosed with attention deficit disorder and written-language difficulties, and had been receiving special education services at his local public school, Hamilton Elementary, before transferring in September to Our Lady of Mercy.

But at Our Lady of Mercy, despite his parents' repeated requests, the fourth grader failed to receive the speech therapy and extra help with written-language and organization skills and reading comprehension that state law entitles him to under his IEP, or Individual Education Plan.

"Nowhere did anyone say that if you are in private school, you would get fewer services," said Greg Mancini. "But that's what happened."

IN DECEMBER, Commissioner McWalters issued an advisory to "Superintendents, Directors of Special Education and other School Officials," reversing the stance the department had taken in July.

McWalters also clarified who is responsible for providing services, saying both the hometown district and the district of the private school play a role.

Private schools receive money from the federal government to help cover the cost of special education services. In Rhode Island, private schools get about $1,100 per student with a learning disability.

The good news is more private school students are receiving services during their school day, instead of going back to their hometowns for services before or after school. The bad news is, if your child needs occupational therapy, for example, but his or her private school is providing only speech therapy, your child is shut out of services, according to federal law.

But McWalters said in his December advisory that any services not provided by the private school must be offered by the student's home district.

For the Mancinis, this meant the reinstatement of their son's services. The lawsuit was settled, and Greg Mancini said his son began receiving his tutoring and speech therapy in December.

"His grade jumped 22 points, from a 65 to an 87, in English, after he started his services," Mancini said.

But Mancini, who is a lawyer, said he is concerned that other students shut out of special education services might not yet have them reinstated. He also said the sudden way the Education Department changed its policy last summer troubles him.

"I don't know how this department can issue an unauthored advisory without going through the proper channels, the administrative procedures act, the General Assembly, or a public hearing. Somebody just decided these kids weren't going to get their services," Mancini said. "To me, it's not just negligent; it was an overt attempt to carve out a whole class of kids."

THE MANCINIS' son was not the only student to lose services. A random survey of six private schools -- Our Lady of Mercy, All Saints Academy in Middletown, St. Mary Academy-Bay View in East Providence, Msgr. Matthew F. Clarke Regional School in South Kingstown, Holy Ghost School in Providence and St. Pius X in Westerly -- found that all but one had students who had lost services for several months.

Only one school, St. Mary Academy, said that no services were disrupted, and an administrator credited East Providence with maintaining that support. But principals from the other schools reported that they struggled with the changes and that some students left because of frustrations over lost services.

About 17,000 children attend 53 parochial schools in Rhode Island, according to the Diocese of Providence, and the state also has 49 independent schools.

DESPITE THESE PROBLEMS, state education officials maintain that no student is currently without services. Officials also say they were unable to estimate how many of the 400 to 600 students with learning disabilities in private schools may have been affected during the six-month gap it took the state to reconsider its policy change.

"It's our opinion that most kids did continue with services," said Ken Swanson, the department's director of special education, in a phone interview.

The Education Department plans to review its special education regulations for children "parentally placed" in private school and hold public hearings once the federal government provides more information. But it is unclear when that information will come, and it is unlikely state law would change within the next year, Wood said.

The Mancinis' son has been much happier in his new school since he resumed speech therapy and tutoring, said his mother.

"These are kids who just need a little bit of assistance to make the grade," said Suzanne Mancini. "All we want is what he's legally entitled to -- a little bit of support to have him be a successful student."

jjordan@projo.com / (401) 277-7254