Special-ed backers scramble to save learning centers

The advocates have tried everything: rallies, countless protests, hordes of letters and e-mails to county school board members and an appeal to the state Board of Education to get schools Superintendent Jerry D. Weast’s plan overturned.

If the appeal to the state board fails, advocates would file a federal lawsuit to stop the plan, said Jeanne Taylor, an advocate and chairwoman of Galway Elementary School’s special-needs⁄education committee. The state board is expected to make a decision next month.

The initial plan was to close the centers in two years. Weast tweaked his idea in January, and now wants at least 80 percent of the school system’s special education students included in regular classrooms.

The centers ‘‘don’t work” and are racially out of sync with the school system’s population, Weast said earlier this year.

There were 295 middle-school students in the secondary learning centers last year, according to school system statistics. Of those, 40 percent — or 119 students — were black. Twenty-eight percent, or 81 students, were Hispanic.

In high school, there were 316 students in the centers, of whom 43 percent — 136 students — were black. Twenty-three percent — or 72 students — were Hispanic. However, there were more whites than Hispanics in high school learning centers, with 29 percent of the population, or 90 students.

‘‘Currently, students with disabilities are not meeting high academic expectations,” Weast wrote in a Tuesday memo to the school board. ‘‘One of the most compelling reasons for phasing out the secondary learning centers is the lagging academic performance of secondary learning center students.”

Proficiency rates of middle school learning center students were more than 50 percent lower than those of their special-needs peers in the same schools, meaning that special-needs children who attend regular classes do better in school, according to the school system.

Advocates argue that the centers, with their slower pace and smaller class sizes, help some special-needs students better understand the general education curriculum.

Some argue the school system is not prepared for the initiative.

‘‘People are very skeptical about what [the school system] is doing to make it go smoothly,” Taylor said. ‘‘They don’t have the resources.”

Taylor also questioned the amount of time dedicated to training teachers and staff to assist special education students.

Teachers are required to take the training; paraeducators are not, school officials said. ‘‘We believe this is the appropriate training,” said schools spokesman Brian K. Edwards. ‘‘We’re going to ensure it’s a success.”

‘‘I think it’s horribly unfair for the parents and students to take this gigantic leap of faith and trust that it’s going to be all right,” said Lyda Astrove, an advocate whose son spent seven years in secondary learning centers. ‘‘Montgomery County Public Schools is not ready to do this. Some kids can’t focus in a class of 30 kids.”

Advocates are not alone in protesting the closings; at least one County Council member has criticized the plan.

‘‘I still think it’s a mistake to close the centers,” said Phillip M. Andrews (D-Dist. 3) of Gaithersburg, a member of the council’s three-member Education Committee. ‘‘... I don’t believe they’ve done enough preparation for what they proposed.”

Committee Chairman Michael J. Knapp (D-Dist. 2) of Germantown has pledged more oversight over the school system’s initiatives. Valerie Ervin (D-Dist. 5) of Silver Spring, a former school board member, said she is concerned about the disproportionality of blacks and Latinos in the learning centers.

What’s going on

Sixty-nine special education students have been identified to get services at their home schools, according to the school system. As of May 25, placement had not been determined for 19 of those students.

Under a six-year plan, students in the sixth through 12th grades may remain in the learning centers through graduation.

Students now in the centers have the option of returning to their neighborhood or consortia schools to take classes, and the 45 fifth-graders who may be candidates for the centers next year will take special education classes in their home schools.

Principals and staffers are getting more training and staff will work on improving the quality of instruction at the centers.