EducationNews.org

Chesterfield County Public Schools:  Design for Excellence or Design for Destruction?

 
Kandise Lucas, Ph.D. - June 28, 2009
Columnist EducationNews.org

 

            Parents and advocates, as well as the media, are taking notice of the extreme corruption, illegal activities, and neglect of students that appears to be rampant throughout Chesterfield County Public Schools, especially as it pertains to students with disabilities.

 

            Nothing less than what  can be characterized as horror stories have been communicated by numerous parents of special needs students as they outline their experiences with district officials in an effort to advocate for the right to learn for their students.

 

            In one particular case, a parent attended a meeting with administrators of Meadowview High School and central office.  Mr. Shawn Able, Assistant Principal, Ms. Lauran Ziegler, Instructional Specialist, and Ms. Deb Jones, Chairperson of Special Education, were the administrators present.   During the meeting that was requested by the parent in an effort to discuss her student’s educational plan, it was determined that a central office official, Lauran Ziegler, had falsified the student’s record regarding the reason that the student was referred for evaluation testing.

 

            Ziegler noted in the student’s individualized education plan, IEP, that the student had been referred for testing due to the student’s behavior, when it was clearly documented by the educational, psychological, and sociological reports that the student was referred as a normal part of the evaluation process for all students with special needs. 

 

            Ziegler, who did not attend the meeting in which the decision was made to conduct the testing, refused to correct the falsified student records in spite of the fact that it not only was in direct contradiction to the testing specialists claims within the district, but also refused to remove the falsified statement when the student’s own case manager confirmed that the reason for the testing had nothing to do with behavior but was a normal step in the evaluation process every three years for students with special needs.

 

            The parent of the student pleaded with Ms. Ziegler to remove the falsified statement from her child’s records so as not to give an untrue and negative impression of her child, however, Ziegler, after being confronted with the testing documentation and casemanager comments, adamantly and repeatedly refused to do so.  At one point, Ziegler resorted to stating that confronting her about what was blatant falsification of student records, was a “personal attack” against her, to which the parent advocate had to remind her that it was not personal, but the issue was about the life of a child and operating in integrity.   She also reminded Ziegler that falsifying student records was grounds to have her administrative license revoked by the Virginia Department of Education.

 

            It was also note that Ziegler falsified the student record in an effort to create evidence that would help the district as they face an investigation by the Virginia Department of Education regarding their actions in this case. 

 

            The parent went on to share that not only had Ziegler knowingly and intentionally falsified student records, but that the district had also altered the attendance records of her student in an effort to claim that the student would not be eligible for credit for this academic year due to not meeting attendance requirements.   After producing the proper medical documentation for the student’s absences, it was clearly noted that the district had indeed either altered or falsified the record in some manner as a means of retaliating against the family. 

 

            Furthermore, what amounts to even more evidence of unethical acts by district officials as it relates to the records of students with special needs, Ms. Ziegler and Meadowview High officials produced IEP documents that had the same date, but whose content did not match during a recent meeting.  It leads one to conclude that student records were indeed falsified and/or dates on documents were altered in some manner in order to cover up questionable acts by Ziegler and others. 

 

            In an effort to make Dr. Newsome, superintendent of Chesterfield County Public Schools, and the school board aware of the unethical actions of Ms. Ziegler, the parent of the special needs student shared her experience with them during a recent school board meeting.  Following, what was clearly a highly emotional plea for someone to intercede on behalf of her student by the parent, neither the school board nor Dr. Newsome acknowledged or responded to the parent’s desperate words on behalf of her child with special needs. Instead, Dr. Newsome extended words of congratulations to the Mr. Ferrell, the principal of Meadowview High School for having a “successful year.”

 

            Is Dr. Newsome communicating that when administrators falsifying student records, deprive students with special needs of much needed support, and retaliate against parents that serve as advocates for their children, that this qualifies as having a “successful year” for a principal?  If so, then Dr. Newsome has forgotten who his priority is…….CHESTERFIELD’S CHILDREN!

 

            As an observer of this process and advocate, I am particularly concerned about superintendents, specifically those of color, that have failed to remember their roots, their struggle, and most importantly, their purpose.  While Dr. Newsome and the school board members have an obligation to act in the best interests of all students throughout the district, they have a special obligation to take the extra effort to ensure that the most vulnerable children within the district, those with special needs, are protected and nurtured.  If others before them had not honored this special obligation, then black, Hispanic, and female students would have continued to be excluded from the public education system.

 

            I am also deeply concerned when school board members, like Patricia Carpenter, of the Midlothian District, openly and blatantly associate poverty within Chesterfield County solely with Hispanic children, when, in fact, children of all races are victimized by the societal evil of poverty.  In addition, when the spouse of a school board member is reportedly a former special needs student who had someone to fight for them, but that school board member fails to advocate for these children, then this is extremely shameful.  Based on the words of both, Dr. Newsome and Mrs. Carpenter, enormous concern is definitely justified as to whether they are acting or are even interested in acting in the best interests of the most vulnerable children and families within the district. Many parents and advocates believe that they do not.

 

            At the present time, they are failing miserably in this regard, and as a result, they are responsible for not promoting a “design for excellence” as they claim, but for authoring and maintaining a “design for destruction” as it pertains to innocent, trusting, and promising children with special needs that only want the opportunity to excel, and whose parents only want the best for them.

 

            Will Chesterfield’s parents, advocates, and students continue to stand alone as the district’s moral and ethical leaders? Or will Dr. Newsome, Mr. Trammell, Mr. Wyman, Ms. Pettit, Mr. Rajah, and Ms. Carpenter forsake their detrimental roles toward children as political and bureaucratic leaders in order to do what is best for children as moral and ethical ones?  Will these officials continue to be guilty of what Mohandas Gandhi characterized as one of the seven deadly sins, “politics without principals?”

 

            This is a public call for Chesterfield County Public Schools and Chesterfield’s Board of Supervisors to take a hard, objective, and honest look at those that are paid and duty-bound to support students with disabilities.  These children and their families are being victimized in horrific ways by those paid to nurture and educate them.  Now that Dr. Newsome and the board members have been made aware of these abuses, will they too, became accomplices to abusers by enabling those that do, or will they speak for children that have no voice and change the system? 

 

            If you are a parent, student, or advocate that has a story to tell regarding Chesterfield County Public Schools, please contact us.  Several parties are exploring the option of a class action suit in order to force the district’s officials to be moral, accountable, ethical, and just.   While some cases that we have received complaints about have been settled out of court, if the violations and abuses have continued, please feel free to email us.