Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, November 14, 1995 TAG: 9511140111
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JOEL TURNER STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The U.S. Department of Education report said the state also failed to resolve in the mandated 60 days many complaints about possible violations of special education regulations.
Some complaints have not been resolved for a year or longer, according to the recent monitoring report by the Office of Special Education Programs.
The state will not challenge the findings, said Doug Cox, a spokesman for the state Department of Education. "We are in the process of developing a corrective action plan."
Federal education officials have told the state to prepare a plan within 45 days for improving its monitoring system.
The state could have asked the federal agency to reconsider its findings if it believed they were inaccurate or the facts were insufficient to support them.
The report also cited Roanoke County for several violations of special education regulations, but county school officials have said some parts of the report are inaccurate.
Federal education officials defended its accuracy Monday.
"We stand by our findings. We have corroborated what we said in the report," said Jim Bradshaw, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Education.
Federal education officials, who visited six school divisions in Virginia this year, said they found that the state's monitoring procedures were ineffective in identifying deficiencies in local special education programs.
They directed the state to notify the school divisions to halt all violations immediately and comply with the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.
But Roanoke County officials maintain they are not in violation.
Eddie Kolb, the county's director of pupil personnel services for special education, said federal officials apparently misinterpreted some information about the county's program that it obtained from teachers at two schools.
Federal officials visited Glenvar High School and Glenvar Elementary School, Kolb said Monday. The county has special education programs at all of its 27 schools.
The report said the county does not provide counseling and an extended school year to special education students. It said the county does not offer some educable and trainable mentally disabled students the option of being placed in regular classrooms.
But Kolb disputes the findings. He has asked to meet with state education officials to give the county's side and provide them a full report on the programs and services offered by the county.
He said 227 special education children in elementary grades and "a number of high school and middle school students" were enrolled in summer school this past summer as part of the extended-year program.
Counseling is provided for special education students who are eligible for it, he said, and some educable and trainable disabled students are placed in regular classes.
The county will receive $842,488 in federal funds this school year for special education. The money is used mainly for physical therapists, occupational therapists, psychologists, speech pathologists, teacher aides and other personnel.
The Department of Education can cut off federal funds for special education to states and school divisions if they do not comply with the disabilities law, but it has not threatened to do so in this case.
by CNB