The West Windsor-Plainsboro School District entered into a consent agreement to settle a claim that it discriminated against talented students following a four-year investigation by the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education (OCR).
The investigating office concluded there was sufficient evidence that the district failed to comply with federal civil rights laws in two areas: not allowing equal access of bright students to advanced or accelerated courses if they also have learning differences, and failing to provide students with disabilities needed supports or services in required world language classes.
OCR notified the district in March, 2011, that it found sufficient evidence that the district was out of compliance with federal law, and requested that the district voluntarily negotiate a resolution agreement. The district agreed to a corrective action plan that OCR will monitor for compliance.
The plan requires that the district make individualized decisions about students’ needs, and if it recommends a particular special education service in one class, but not in the student’s world language class or in an honors or advanced class, the district must document its reasoning for that decision and OCR will review the decisions.
Students who are eligible for special education have a document called an Individualized Educational Plan, or IEP. IEPs must be reviewed at least annually. The corrective action plan requires that during annual review meetings occurring this school year, thedistrict should consider whether the student needs compensatory education because the student did not get a particular special education support in 2011-2012. The corrective action plan is likely to apply to the majority of students with IEPs in the district.
OCR’s monitoring will continue through December 2013. The district consented to the plan while denying any wrongdoing.
Denise Lanchantin Dwyer, an education attorney who handled the matter on behalf of families of affected students, said the district’s practices had the effect of “forcing students to choose between the academically challenging classes they were intellectually capable of mastering and special education supports they needed to be able to show that mastery.” She says it also left students with acknowledged learning disabilities without help in mandatory world language classes.
“Learning disabilities occur across all social, economic, and intellectual ability levels. It was really disheartening how long and how hard the district fought to keep these exceptionally able students out of advanced or honors level classes even after it was clear that the district’s legal position was untenable” Dwyer said.
“Students who are both intellectually gifted and have some type of learning disability that makes them eligible for special education are sometimes called twice-exceptional. Several parents of twice-exceptional students in the district met with district administrators a number of times over the past ten years seeking access to the district’s various gifted and honors programs. Administrators made sympathetic noises, but did little” she said.
Dwyer is the mother of Kevin Dwyer, a 2011 graduate of High School North. She described some individual cases. “One of the students in the WW-P case has dyslexia and dysgraphia, a writing disability, but led the district’s nationally ranked robotics team. His mother had to fight just to get him the same special education support in higher level math and science classes that the district was willing to give him in lower level classes. He graduated before the complaint was resolved, and was awarded a college scholarship at an engineering school, but his family wonders what would have happened if they had just accepted what the district first offered.
“Another student, who has ADHD, scored a perfect 300 on the science section of the NJASK in eighth grade, but wasn’t recommended for the higher level science class option in ninth grade which is also below an honors level class. That student’s mother describes him as being like the classic absent-minded professor who understands subjects at a very high level, but can never find the pencil he stuck behind his ear.
“Both mothers asked that their names not be used to protect their children’s privacy,” Dwyer wrote via E-mail.
