From The Villager
Cynthia and Joel Durham wonder why the Hillsboro-Deering (H-D) school district insists on keeping their son, Joel, 17, who is severely disabled, in the district, rather than supporting him out of district at the Crotched Mountain facility. The Durhams recently moved to Deering from Henniker, where the school district had a different opinion.
When Joel was in fourth grade, school district personnel in Henniker told the Durhams they felt Joel’s needs would be best met in another facility. His parents toured the Easter Seals facility and Crotched Mountain, and picked Crotched Mountain for Joel’s daily schooling. He has had a daily routine there ever since.
The Durhams fought the decision made by the H-D district to keep Joel in district, but lost in a hearing with the Department of Education in Concord.
“The hearing officer based her decision on Free Appropriate Public Education, or FAPE. Every student is entitled to FAPE,” Cynthia explained. “They backed up the school district. They didn’t even take into consideration his safety concerns or medical needs.”
To date, Cynthia said there are now nine different sorts of seizures Joel experiences, and that lately there has been at least one per day. Cynthia also pointed out that the district’s Director of Student Support Services, Patti Parenteau, had been working in Henniker at the time Joel was sent to Crotched Mountain.
“She was Joel’s speech pathologist when he was in fourth grade,” said Cynthia. “She was on his Individual Education Plan team. She was actually one of the people to go to Crotched Mountain to check it out before we placed Joel.”
Parenteau and the people involved with Joel in Henniker at that time felt that Crotched Mountain was the best place for Joel. Cynthia said this was brought up at the hearing with the Department of Education.
“It was said [at the hearing] that they didn’t have the facilities in Henniker at the time, but now in Hillsborough they have the facilities to take care of Joel,” Cynthia explained. “I do not agree.”
Superintendent Dr. Baker has made it clear that no one in the district will discuss any student’s case publicly.
“With special education we have to do what we have to do,” said Karen Ralph, the high school’s Special Education Coordinator, on Tuesday. “We have to do what is best for the child. It’s an ongoing assessment. Even when they are placed, parents can call a meeting at any time.”
Ed Naile, a Deering resident and Chairman of The Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers, accompanied Cynthia to the last H-D school board meeting on May 5. There he read a letter he prepared, arguing that Joel should be allowed to remain at Crotched Mountain. Each board member was given a packet including letters from staff at Crotched Mountain, Joel’s doctor, and others involved with Joel’s case. The Durhams and Naile say if the board members do not vote to reverse the decision made by the district to remove Joel from Crotched Mountain at the May 19 meeting, they will go to higher levels.
“Our response will be totally political, in the news, talk shows, the Internet,” said Naile. “There are dozens and dozens of other taxpayers associations throughout the state, and we’ll go through the list of bad moves Hillsboro-Deering is making. We are going to expose how they think they are going to save money.”
Naile believes Joel’s placement in the district will eventually result in costing the district more money than the cost of having him schooled at Crotched Mountain, because of his medical issues. He also does not believe H-D high school is equipped to handle Joel.
According to Joel’s doctor, Brian D. Kossak of the Dartmouth Hitchcock clinic, Joel has Lennox Gastaut Syndrome.
“This is a severe intractable form of epilepsy that requires a skilled staff to attend to not only his challenging educational needs but his challenging medical needs as well,” Dr. Kossak wrote in a letter dated Dec. 11, 2007. “It is strongly recommended that Joel continue his education at Crotched Mountain as the staff there is fully equipped to meet all of Joel’s medical and educational needs and Joel is well established at Crotched Mountain.”
But the H-D school district has decided that Joel should attend the high school in town as of May 19 on a split schedule, two days at the high school and three at Crotched Mountain, until the end of the year. This split schedule would continue when summer school commences. Then, in September, Joel would attend H-D high school full time, permanently cutting his ties with Crotched Mountain.
“Joel is severely autistic and has a really hard time adjusting to change, to new people and places,” said Cynthia. “He gets stubborn. He is uncooperative. His doctors can’t believe they want to put him in public school. We know his seizures have increased in the past few months.”
In fact, when Joel attended a meeting at the district at which his transition was to be discussed on May 2, he had a dramatic seizure that landed him in Concord Hospital. Although Cynthia does not base the reason for the seizure on his presence at the meeting, she pointed out that no one present, the ones elected by the district to take care of him, had any idea of how to handle it.
“They haven’t even had any type of training,” Cynthia complained. “I asked to go to their seizure training, and so I went last Monday. When I asked who was teaching it, they said Candie Garvin.”
But according to Cynthia, Garvin, the school nurse, only spoke for five minutes, and then Cynthia took over the class for 45 minutes. Present were the life skills teacher, the speech therapist, the occupational therapist, the vice principal and four paraprofessionals – all those who would be responsible for Joel.
“I totally drew a blank when they asked me to explain what his seizures are like, so I’m sure I left out a lot of thing,” said Cynthia. “I wasn’t even invited. I invited myself. I asked for permission to go to this.”
The change of place and staff is what concerns the Durhams most. If Joel does begin attending the high school on Monday, the paraprofessionals assigned to working with him will be changing several times over the next few months. Cynthia was told their will be one set till the end of the school year in June, then another in the summer, and yet another during the coming school year.
According to Cynthia and his doctor, Joel, who is confined to a cruiser and must wear a protective helmet and face shield to protect him if he falls out, does better with a constant and familiar venue of place and of people. She is especially concerned that the split schedule the district has suggested will add to the tension and confusion in Joel’s life.
“He is so medically involved, they are not qualified to deal with the emergencies that arrive with Joel. They haven’t been properly trained,” Cynthia pointed out. “With some of his seizures, he’s lethargic and not focused. The para has to control him, but he’s a 17-year old boy and if he ends up on the floor and doesn’t want to get up, or is unable to, a para is not going to be able to set him back in his cruiser.”
Joel’s doctor agrees.
“Joel’s seizures condition is currently unstable. It is in Joel’s best interest and safety at this time to not split his school day week between two different schools,” said Dr. Kossak in a letter dated May 9. “It is also recommended that for now, Joel continue to attend school at his current Crotched Mountain program, where they have the expertise of education and treating Joel for his seizures.”
The Durhams are now returning to due process with the Department of Education to argue that Joel’s transition is not being handled properly. The last hearing focused on placement. This one will be confined to issues with transition. Unless the school board and the district reverse their decision, the Durhams will continue to fight Joel’s placement in district.