From the Miami Herald:

Students with autism in South Florida have two new school programs available to them: South Florida Autism Charter School in Hialeah and an inclusive school-within-a-school in the Miami-Dade school district.

The charter school now serves 81 students in grades K-8, and plans to grow to serve students through high school. As a charter school, it is funded by the state and can set its own curriculum.

“This is one of the fastest-growing special-needs populations in the country,” said Miami-Dade schools Superintendent Alberto Carvalho. “It’s time to provide more options for students and parents.”

From the Orange County Register (with video):

A recent policy change by California’s nursing board is endangering the lives of students by withholding medication needed to quell potentially life-threatening seizures, say parents and epilepsy advocates.

A directive issued by the board last month says no school staff except registered nurses can administer Diastat, and that schools must call 911 for assistance if no nurse is available.

Orange County dad Pat DeLorenzo said he had been told that staff members at his daughter’s public school were trained to administer the medication. But the directive by the state Board of Registered Nursing meant that his 7-year-old daughter, Gianna (above), had to wait more than five minutes for paramedics when she had a seizure in class recently.  “My daughter could have been dead by then,” he said, noting that the seizure ended before emergency personnel arrived.

… A spokeswoman for the American Nurses Association says the state nursing board was simply affirming California laws that prohibit unlicensed individuals like school staff from practicing medicine – and trying to shield nurses from unwarranted liability.

… Medical experts and epilepsy advocates say that prohibiting non-licensed school staff from administering Diastat is dangerous because of the time it can take for paramedics to arrive on scene. In a worst-case scenario, a seizure that is not stopped in a timely manner with Diastat could cause permanent brain injury or even death, potentially in a matter of minutes.

,,, “We need to have a change in legislation so the misinterpretation (of state law) can go away,” said Judith Pennella, executive director of the Epilepsy Alliance of Orange County.

Orange County’s school districts employ only 249 nurses for nearly 600 schools. In the state of California, the ratio is 2,500 students per school nurse.

(Orange County Register photo)

From the [Riverside, CA] Press-Enterprise:

Squeezed between the rising needs of students with autism and declining state and federal funds, California educators say they are seeking creative solutions.

Among the ideas they’re trying: Setting up foundations to raise funds; writing grants; and forging partnerships with other districts, parents, and organizations to use successful programs as models rather than developing new programs.

In Riverside County, the school district is paying about $36,000 per student to educate children with severe autism in small classes, compared with about $8,600 for typical students.

From the Chicago Tribune:

A report by the Illinois State Board of Education has found that about half of Chicago public schools reviewed by the state failed to provide adequate services to children with disabilities.

The report, which “excoriates the district for its continued failure to comply with federal disability laws,” also found that 40 percent of the 96 schools monitored were not properly implementing special education plans.

The school district was supposed to come up with a plan to address the concerns this month, but instead is challenging the report. Administrators argue there are only six areas that need more work [not 11], and blame the state’s findings on flawed methodology.

From the Washington Post:

A private school faces closure after the District of Columbia decided to pull 170 students with disabilities, citing concerns about the quality of instruction. Officials at Accotink Academy said they planned to fight the decision and had not been told of any concerns before notices were sent to parents.

The District has nearly 9,300 special education students, including those in public charter schools, and about 30 percent of them are enrolled in private schools because the District can’t meet their needs. The cost to taxpayers in tuition and transportation is about $200 million a year. Accotink Academy has been receiving about $10 million a year from the D.C. school system, according to District figures.

[Correspondence from the District to the school] said that Accotink staff members were “indifferent” to the students and that the quality of teaching was “quite low.” It also said teachers didn’t seem to be following individualized education plans, which guide instruction for special education students.

Several parents said they hadn’t noticed any problems and are worried about their children switching schools mid-year.

See also: D.C. parents decry move against private school — Washington Post

From the Chicago Tribune:

As kids across the nation go back to class, school officials worry about the financial impact of last June’s Supreme Court decision on special education. The ruling allows the parents of students with disabilities to seek reimbursement from their districts for private school tuition, even if they did not first try their public school’s special education programs.

Some educators fear the ruling will strain tight school budgets and pit parents against each other in pursuit of scarce resources. But experts don’t expect a wave of parents seeking to exit public schools, and say the promise of big legal bills and lengthy delays would deter them.

Illinois is already spending more than $180 million annually on private schooling for students with disabilities — a number that does not include students from the Chicago Public Schools.

Parents and disability advocates say the ruling gives parents leverage when districts drag their feet in serving students with disabilities or use overly narrow criteria to determine eligibility.

From the New York Times:

Children with disabilities are disproportionately paddled, spanked, or physically punished in American public schools, according to a new report by Human Rights Watch and the American Civil Liberties Union.

The report found that more than 200,000 children were subjected to physical punishment in the nation’s schools during the 2006-2007 school year, and that more than 40,000 of them were students with disabilities. Students with disabilities made up 18.8 percent of students who were physically punished during that year, although they constituted just 13.7 percent of the total nationwide student population.

Most states prohibit corporal punishment in public schools, but 20 do not. The study’s authors urged federal and state lawmakers to extend the ban nationwide and enact an immediate moratorium on physical punishment of students with disabilities.

“Corporal punishment is just not an effective method of punishment, especially for disabled children, who may not even understand why they’re being hit,” said Alice Farmer, who wrote the report.

Earlier post here.