Letter from state shows S-B Schools not in compliance.

"Deficiencies" in the recording of individualized education plans (IEP) for special education students have been pointed out in the Suttons Bay school district.

Superintendent Mike Murray told Suttons Bay school board members last week that he had received a letter from the state Board of Education that identifies the district as among 2 percent of state schools that were not in compliance with the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

"To go along with the disproportion report which indicates that minority students are over-represented among the special education population, I received this news this week," he said.

Based on data from the 2005-06 school year, only 20 percent of the IEPs prepared for the school’s special education students identified the student’s "postsecondary visions," which refers to career or vocational goals. None of the reports identified students' "strengths, preferences, interests, needs, academic achievement and functional performance" as required. Neither did any identify goals and transition services that would enable the students to meet their future goals.

Murray told board members that the district is moving forward to address the needs of the special education population, as well as complying with state reporting.

"We’re working with teachers diligently — not only on the paperwork, but student needs," Murray said.

Suttons Bay is making a shift from the traditional model of services for special needs students to one that builds on student strengths rather than deficiencies.

"What’s happened in the past was that students who performed low were offered help," he explained. "We’re hoping to try a new method of intervention, where you work from their strengths rather than weaknesses."

The deficiencies were recorded for a period before Murray was hired as a permanent replacement for former Superintendent Tom Harwood, who resigned in 2006. In the past year, a new special education coordinator has come on board through the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School work.

Murray’s past experience with cognitively impaired students while serving as principal at Traverse City Central High School is of a point of pride for him.

"Not too long ago I was in Meijer and saw two of these kids working in the meat and seafood departments," Murray said. "They learned responsibility (in school) and learned how to deal with the public and hold down a job … Our focus should be on what these kids are going to do after they graduate."