Nancy Rodriguez for DISD Trustee

The Dallas Morning News published this damning story on the state of DISD’s Special Education department. To those of us in the Special Education world this is nothing new. And while the DMN article states at least 15% of kids referred did not get an evaluation, I know that that number is much higher factoring in the number of referrals that were requested by parents but refused by District staff, parents who were ignored or told their child didn’t need an evaluation or couldn’t get one. Then there are the re-evaluations that are denied. At minimum, evaluations should be done every three years, but under the law parents may request an evaluation as often as once a year—a rule that the District routinely ignores. During the course of this pandemic I have heard from many parents that who were told that the District had suspended evaluations indefinitely or that their child couldn’t be evaluated because it could be Covid slide and not [insert disability]. This happened at my daughter’s school which is a good school--campuses are at the mercy of the central administration and Special Education is part of central staff. Are these kids included in the DMN’s 15% number? I seriously doubt it—I suspect that their evaluation requests were never documented and never counted. The DMN article focuses on initial evaluations but re-evaluations are just as important for determining progress and services. If we count re-evaluations along with the requests that are ignored and never documented, that 15% number jumps considerably.

To understand where DISD failed, it’s important to understand the basics of the Special Education process. It starts with an initial request to the student’s school for an evaluation. That request -- called a referral -- can come from parents, teachers, administrators or counselors, and can be made verbally or in writing (According to the law, a referral can made verbally. The reality, though, is that verbal requests are often forgotten, which is why I tell every parent to put their request in writing and to date it). That starts the clock ticking for that initial meeting to discuss the evaluation and get consent—but as the DMN documents, DISD frequently ignores that clock. Just two weeks ago I reached out to a school about a speech evaluation. The parent had been asking all year for that evaluation and heard nothing. She provided the school with a doctor’s note, but I still advised her to make her own request in writing because even doctors’ notes get ignored by DISD.

The referral process can go wrong in so many ways: a common problem is that teachers are erroneously told that they have to do “Results to Intervention” (RTI) before a child can be evaluated (in laymen’s terms, RTI means the teacher must go through a series of teaching interventions and document them and their effectiveness to try and catch the child up). This is not true; RTI and evaluations can and should be done concurrently. While I was on the District 2 SpEd committee I had access to a 2017 review of Special Education practices and it found that while the District was requiring teachers to perform RTI prior to a SpEd referral only 25% of teachers knew how perform RTI correctly. Fascinating. The District was holding up evaluations by pushing RTI, when few of its teachers even knew how to perform RTI correctly. Sometimes teachers are told the guidance counselor has to initiate the referral. Again, not true. Anyone can initiate a referral, even a community member with knowledge of the child can request a referral. But we have no clear mechanism in DISD to allow this to happen—we don’t even have a standard form for parents to use to ask for an evaluation (although I’ve been asking for one for years). Through lack of training or lack of will, the District frequently finds ways to derail the process. And that is only the beginning of the story—after a referral comes the evaluation, a determination of what services a child needs and the actual delivery of those services. At every step, DISD fumbles the ball, violates the law, ignores and bullies parents and, ultimately, fails our kids.

There have been audits of the Special Education department, most recently done by a Dr. Collier, a former DISD employee. She received just under $50K for each audit (just under the Board approval threshold) to say SpEd had a few minor issues, but nothing serious. The last I checked, Collier’s only client was Dallas ISD. She has a lucrative practice painting rosy pictures of DISD, but the children can’t get decent services.

While I sat on the District 2 Special Education committee, I asked what the response to the Corrective Action Plan was when the state investigated the caps placed on special education numbers. The answer? Crickets. Every single district in Texas was required to draft their own action plan to remedy the problem. This past year I sat on a District-wide Special Education advisory committee (SEPAC) where we attended Zoom call after Zoom call in which SpEd administration regaled us with tales of all the wonderful work they were doing, but said nothing of the problems that needed addressing. I am all for cheerleading at appropriate times, but what about helping the kids in the need? It seemed to me that SEPAC’s focus was to provide good press for the District, not to look for ways to address its failings.

The first step to fixing a problem is admitting you have one. It appears DISD has finally done that. Good job! Now what? What will be the real-world consequences of this debacle? I have spoken at board meetings, I’ve sat in committees, I’ve had private meetings with the Deputy Superintendent and the Executive Director of SpEd, I’ve met with trustees, e-mailed the Superintendent, spoken to reporters, and most importantly proposed solutions to the problems the District has turned a blind eye to for years, but I have never once seen any consequence to any member of the District’s staff as a result of these failures. Instead, I’ve seen the architects of these problems praised and promoted. When can we get some accountability and some action? What will be the consequence of this failure? And while we look to the District for their response let’s take some time to look in the mirror. Look at your board who knew this was happening all along because I and some of the more vocal SpEd advocates have been telling them about it for years, and ask yourself what needs to change.

There’s been a lot of talk of equity, particularly racial equity, but we miss it in the most obvious of ways. Many people think this doesn’t apply to them, but if we can’t trust our school district to serve the most vulnerable, what does that say about its sincerity when it comes to racial equity? What are the long term consequences for these kids and how does that build an equitable society? When you pave the way for the most vulnerable everybody wins.

Dallas ISD failed to help thousands of students who may have needed special education services Over the past four school years, thousands of Dallas students -- at least one out of every seven referred for special education -- didn’t get the help they...

Please join me in re-electing Paula Blackmon to the city council for District 9.

If you're a parent of a student with special needs, I highly recommend any trainings by Pete Wright. He wrote the book on special education law. I took his SpEd law training in person two years ago and I learned so much. This training is next week and it's FREE!

Overcoming COVID-19's Impact on Your Student with Special Needs In this live class for families navigating the complex world of special education, we'll discuss strategies for making the best of school closures. We'll explore topics like understanding your child's progress and regression, compensatory education, contingency plans, and how to get your student's e...

I called Trustee Marshall last night and congratulated him because it was the proper and decent thing to do. I hope he engages all our families and hears their concerns even when it may seem tiresome. I pray his initiatives help all our children. I am happy to offer ideas and advice.

I want to give a big “thank you” to the organizations and people that endorsed me. There were so many. These people and organizations motivated me every step of the way.

I’d like to thank my supporters. Thanks for your votes and for believing in me and for sharing my message. Another big thank you to people who gave donations. Campaigns are very expensive to run and we appreciated every dollar and put it to good use. My volunteers were outstanding. We had a diverse phenomenal group, something I am immensely proud of. When this pandemic is over, we need a proper celebration full of food and fun. You have become like family to me.

There were many teachers and staff that encouraged me but I’d like to especially mention Rosie Curts, Kevin Hopper, Andrew Kirk, Diane Birdwell, Angie Smith. What a blessing you are for our children. Our kids in Dallas ISD need you. I admire you.

To my friend and confidante Leticia Gomez: Te admiro tanto. Yo por ti tocaria cien mil puertas. Dejame saber cuando estes lista!

Lori Kirkpatrick: thanks for helping and for supporting me. You are kind and generous and make me laugh.

Ashley Gordon stepped into a huge job for no pay and did it beautifully. I owe you a world of debt.

My husband Barry Jacobs is supportive, generous, and caring. He is always by side and supports me in all endeavors and this one was no different.

Last but not least, Millie Domenech thanks for believing in me. You are brave, smart, selfless, and fierce. I learned so much from you. We are fighters. The same blood runs through our veins. You know what I mean. Don’t be discouraged or second guess anything. Hardworking is an understatement when it comes to you. You did the work of 10 people. You were my biggest critic and cheerleader, and I would not have it any other way.

No longer a candidate, I now have the flexibility to advocate for our kids with more creativity and less restrictions. I am full of ideas and I look forward to starting something new.

Ignore the distractions. Look at the facts. Help me to protect our schools. With less funding coming from the state in 2021 because of Covid, we need someone who will hold the administration accountable for wasteful and irresponsible spending and who will not be a rubber stamp.

Election Day is tomorrow, Tuesday, December 8th. You can vote at any Dallas County Voting Center from 7am-7pm. Find which locations are near you at https://dall1229.maps.arcgis.com/apps/webappviewer/index.html?id=44c16c95fc794176a4853fe28a2eedde

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Thank you, Our Revolution North Texas

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Nancy Rodriguez for DISD Trustee
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