Specific guidance for special ed students omitted by the Californfor ia Department of Public Health for reopening is an “outrage” that has the Los Alamitos Unified School District threatening legal action.
“It’s a civic rights issue,” said Dr. Andrew Pulver, Supt. of the district said after reviewing the approval documents for the elementary school waiver.
Late Friday, an agitated Pulver said if necessary, the district will file a lawsuit on behalf of their special education students to get proper guidance. Moreover, he said the board and special education parents would fully support the district in a lawsuit over the matter.
At the heart of the LAUSD concern is the fact that while they applied for an elementary school waiver for all elementary schools, including special education classes, the state made it clear in their response that special ed students were left out.
“As part of our submission, we requested approval from the CDPH and the OCHCA to allow both our general education and special education SDC elementary classes to return to in-person instruction under the elementary waiver,” Pulver informed parents in an earlier letter.
“It saddens me,” he added, to learn ‘Special Education classes will have separate guidance forthcoming from the State and are ineligible for this waiver process.”
The superintendent said the Orange County Public Health Agency confirmed that the CDPH elementary waiver does not apply to any of our elementary SDC classes.
“The OC Public Health Agency claims the state is expected to release specific guidance for special education and SDC classes soon, “but the OCHCA could not provide me with an exact date” when that guidance will be forthcoming.
“Until further State guidance on special education is released, our SDC classes will be forced to remain in a distance learning setting until the county is off the State Monitoring Watchlist for 14 consecutive days.”
Pulver said it is a “moral imperative” that special ed be included, noting that “we have been tirelessly advocating on behalf of our special education students and families to allow an in-person option or waiver.”
If not resolved soon, Pulver said LAUSD would have little choice but to take legal action in an attempt to obtain the specific guidance for the special education students.
