'Free, appropriate' education 'is all we can expect'.

Ed. note: Part two of a two-part series.

Every student should expect a free and appropriate education from his or her public school.

That is what Alan and Patti Woods say is at the heart of their complaint against Northport Public School and the education plan it developed for their son, who has physical and developmental challenges. Alan Woods is also a member of the Northport Board of Education.

Woods said under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, all he and his wife want from the school for their son is “a free and appropriate education. This is all we can expect and we want the district to live up to this standard,” he said.

The Woods filed a notice of hearing issues and proposed resolutions on Aug. 31 against the Northport district. The two sides are currently undergoing an administrative law hearing to determine if issues the Woods have brought up about their child’s Individual Education Plan for the current and past two school years have merit. The hearing resumes on Monday and Tuesday next week in the Northport Community Arts Center, with superintendent Tyrus Wessell scheduled to provide testimony. The hearings are scheduled to start at 9 a.m. on both days.

Wessell said the process for setting up a plan for a special education student begins with deciding if a student has special needs.

“A team of professionals collect data on the student’s needs,” Wessell said. Once the needs are determined, the school’s special education teachers and counselor, along with Wessell, create a proposed education plan.

“The parents are very much involved in the process and must sign off on the plan,” he said. However, Wessell said the parents don’t necessarily have to agree with all parts of the student’s education plan.

Individual plans for special education students can be as basic as providing extra tutoring, to a more complex plan involving use of classroom aides, physical therapy and one-on-one time with a special education teacher.

The Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District becomes involved if the student needs services like speech and physical therapy. For most local school districts like Northport, it is not economically feasible to have people trained in physical and speech therapy on staff.

The Woods’ complaint deals with what they believe are shortcomings in their son’s education plans for the three different school years. According to documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request to the school district, the couple did not feel the district had provided required services ranging from physical and occupational therapy to one-one class time with a special education teacher as detailed in the education plans for all three school years.

Attorney John F. Brower, who is representing the Woods family, submitted the notice of hearing issues and proposed resolution on their behalf. He wrote the district did not provide the minimum number of physical therapy consultation hours for the 2005-06 and 2006-07 school years.

In a response filed by Sept. 14, 2007, attorney Jeff Butler, whose firm is representing the Northport district, maintained the student did receive the appropriate physical therapy consultation service for both school years.

Butler wrote that the physical therapy consultation services were agreed upon by both parties and were part of an earlier settlement agreement between the Woodses and Northport school.

“This Administrative Law Judge has no jurisdiction or authority to enforce or interpret the Parties’ Settlement Agreement,” he wrote.

The couple's other major complaints with the first two education plans are that Northport did not provide required physical and occupation therapy services for their son; and did not provide enough one-on-one time with a special education teacher who has special training to deal with their son’s challenges.

In its response, the district denies the complaints, with Butler writing that the student received and benefitted from appropriate services during those school years
For the education plan for the 2007-08 school year, the Woodses contend through their complaint that Northport school is continuing to fail to meet the requirements of the plan.

The notice document also includes proposed resolutions for remedying what they consider are the problems with their son’s education plans. The resolutions essentially ask the district to provide the level of services the family feels is spelled out in the different plans.

Neither side is predicting what the outcome will be from the administrative law hearing. Alan Woods said last week that one of his purposes in holding the hearing in public is to shed light on the process, adding that he believes most people don’t know or understand how involved developing an individual plan can be for a student with more than just basic developmental problems.