Opponents of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) plan to further integrate students in special education into general education classrooms are becoming increasingly vocal about their discontent.

Students from Van Ness Avenue Elementary School and Frances Blend School enjoyed a petting zoo during Viacommunity Day earlier this year. (photo by Aaron Blevins)

Former graduates and a past principal of Frances Blend School have denounced the move, and a parent rally was scheduled Wednesday at the offices of Tamar Galatzan, 3rd District, who has four special education centers in her district.

The LAUSD has begun merging four special education centers with general education schools. Frances Blend School, a facility for students who are blind or have visual impairments, is slated to merge with Van Ness Avenue Elementary School.

While opponents of the plan fear that the district will eventually close special education centers and students with disabilities will receive fewer services, district officials contend that the centers will not close and the move will be good for everyone involved.

“It’s not going anywhere. It’s not being shuttered or closed,” LAUSD Special Education Division executive director Sharyn Howell said of Frances Blend. She said some Van Ness students may move to the Frances Blend site, but Braille will still be taught. “It’s just that now they’re going to be a joined community.”

Howell said the district is not eliminating any positions. The principal at Frances Blend had been signed to a one-year contract, and a full-time assistant principal will be hired, she said. Howell hopes Frances Blend parents will notice positive changes when school begins again.

“Hopefully, they will see their child during the year participating in more activities, more work with their general education peers,” she said. “They will see that they still have the teachers and special education assistants and the nurse and the Braillist. All the things they’re familiar with will still be there.”

Howell said the district is undergoing the changes to be in compliance with state and federal laws. Opponents, however, believe the district has misinterpreted the law.

“I think it’s horrific,” said Mitch Pomerantz, immediate past president of the American Council of the Blind. He is also a Frances Blend graduate. “The people who are behind this totally misread what is called for under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.”

Specifically, the district has misread part of the act that states that students with disabilities are provided an education in “the least restrictive environment” possible, he said. Pomerantz said the act calls for a continuum of service, one of which is placement in a special education center.

“It isn’t simply placing a child into a regular school setting and providing that child with the service,” he said. “The reality is the services they’re providing for most of these kids in a regular school setting are nowhere close to the level of service they’re receiving at special schools.”

Pomerantz said schools such as Frances Blend offer students an extensive amount of lessons on Braille and using a cane, which are referred to as “techniques of daily living.”

“In a specialized setting, theses kids can get this training daily,” he added.

In a traditional school setting, students will be lucky to see an itinerant teacher for only a few hours per week, Pomerantz said.

“You just can’t teach those skills that are so vital an hour a week or even two hours a week,” he said, adding that he believes the district is bending state and federal law to fit their political agendas. “And that agenda is to get non-disabled kids to accept kids with disabilities. It doesn’t matter if the kids with disabilities get an education or not. …It’s just a sad commentary on where we are in 2013. That’s very apparent.”

Pomerantz said he has closely followed issues affecting children with visual impairments, and that the effort to close down special education centers goes back approximately 30 years.

Former Frances Blend principal Joy Efron said state and federal law call for a continuum of services, but do not require “full inclusion” of students with disabilities. She said the district is being “blatantly dishonest.”

“It’s a philosophy,” Efron said of full inclusion.

She said the district believes that “special” means “segregated.” Efron noted that other schools that segregate students — such as magnets for gifted and talented students and schools for pregnant minors — are not being targeted.

“If they’re integrating them, it’s also interesting that in some of the schools, there were classes of non-disabled students. …But the district moved those classes out a year ago,” the former principal said. “It’s very purposeful.”

However, she said special schools are often not the least restrictive environment for most children. But for some students with multiple or severe ailments, they can be the best place for instruction, Efron said.

Placing a visually-impaired student in a general education classroom with a teacher who does not know Braille is like an American student who doesn’t speak Chinese trying to study in China, she said. Likewise, in a general education classroom, when a teacher says to turn textbooks to a certain page, it could be a completely different page in a Braille textbook, Efron said.

She believes the district is striving to close Frances Blend. Efron said its location code, which can determine funding and enrollment for a school, has been removed, and the school no longer shows up in the LAUSD Guide to Schools and Offices.

“I think it’s pretty obvious it is closed,” she said, adding that there was no public hearing or notification. Efron contends that the district has not been forthcoming with information related to the special education transition.

Howell, the special education division director, said Frances Blend will continue to teach students with visual impairments. The name will change — Larchmont Village Learning Complex had been proposed, but officials are now looking at naming the two entities the Van Ness-Frances Blend Learning Complex — yet the mission will remain the same, she said.

“There’s no intent to decrease the fact that they will be attending there and receiving their services there,” Howell said, adding that Blend’s enrollment of visually impaired students is approximately 40.

She said the district, which has approximately 83,000 students with disabilities, is applying the law correctly. While special education centers are on the continuum of available service, it’s far down the list of possible options, Howell said.

If parents are unhappy with the alterations, there are options for legal recourse, she said. According to the California Department of Education, no complaints have been filed with the department regarding the district’s transition.