Special ed students not yet back in class

Marisa O’Neil

Most of the 14 special education students kept home from school by

parents last week to protest a class they said had too few aides and

too many rats still haven’t returned to class.

Parents met with Corona del Mar High School and district officials

Monday to discuss their concerns that students’ educational needs

were not being met because of short staffing and to raise issues

about rats, cockroaches and ants in the classroom.

One new aide has started work in the room and another is due to

start Monday, said Patrick Ryan, director of Special Education.

“The carpet was cleaned last Friday; we already set traps last

week; and they’re going out trimming trees today and patching

openings where rodents get in and out,” Ryan said.

But one parent, Greta Anderson-Davis, has already transferred her

daughter to a county-run program.

“From my standpoint, the district has been made aware of what’s

going on,” Anderson-Davis said after the meeting. “There’s no way for

them to brush it under the carpet anymore. They’re doing the best

they can -- they cleaned the carpets [in the room], hired aides. My

main issue was that my kids’ educational needs were not being met.”

Though her daughter Tonya, who suffers a degenerative brain

disease and requires her own aide in class, started in the county

program this week, Anderson-Davis said she had to allow two of her

foster children to return to the classroom. Given the choice, she

said she’d keep them home, but their parents have the final say.

“Right now, it’s easy for the teacher and aides because there are

so few students,” she said. “But we have to wait and see if once all

the parents put their kids back into the classroom, [it will] be

utter chaos again.”

The class has a teacher and three aides with a fourth starting

Monday, Ryan said. The district had already planned to hire one

before the walkout, he said.

The teacher was out last week but returned to work on Wednesday.

Ryan said he did not know if her absence was related to the walkout.

“I think what got us parents so upset is that we have this

incredible teacher but she’s so understaffed she can’t implement what

she needs to implement,” parent Leslie Connell said. “The aides are

incredible, but they’re being too stretched.”

Connell’s daughter, Samantha, has not returned to the school yet,

though Connell said that Samantha loves the class and loves the

teacher. Once she sees a new aide start work in the room and a more

aggressive approach to controlling pests, Connell said she will think

about sending Samantha back.

Parents have complained that the room -- and entire school campus

-- is infested with rats, which they say roam the air ducts and leave

droppings on floors. They said they would like to see reports that

show what is being done to control the problem.

“We’re going to keep our kids home until we see changes,” she

said. “It’s not safe for our kids to be there. They’re cognitively 5

years old. They put things in their mouths.”

Ryan has scheduled another meeting with parents for Friday to keep

them posted on what has and will be done to make the environment

safer and more conducive to learning. He plans to have quarterly

meetings for parents to meet with teachers and district

representatives to keep the lines of communication open.

“We want parents to have the information they need so they can

make a good decision over whether or not the class is staffed enough

for them to come back,” he said.

But parent Diane Marx, whose daughter Krystal has not returned to

the school, said that parents have dealt with the same issues for the

past two years and seen little action.

“They’re constantly telling us stuff that doesn’t happen so when

they do tell us stuff we don’t believe them until we see it,” she

said.

While the children are out of the school, Marx said, parents are

doing what they can to continue their learning experience. She and

two other parents have been caring for them during the day, taking

them on trips to places such as Home Depot to work on their

day-to-day life skills.