Cobb County school officials need to improve on the inclusion of special-needs students in traditional classroom settings and do a better job working with parents when deciding what resources are best for those children, according to a new report.
The extensive review of the district's special education services was ordered by school board members nearly six months ago after complaints by parents, who argued the district was unfairly segregating their special-needs children and hurting their academic performance.
Cobb school officials often do not communicate effectively enough with parents when determining an education plan for special-needs students, according to parents and special-needs advocates.
The report presented at a school board meeting this week “validated some of the concerns parents have been expressing regarding their experience in special education services,” said Cobb Chief Academic Officer Mary Elizabeth Davis. “It pointed to some best practices happening around the state and country that Cobb can learn from.”
Davis said the district has begun to implement some changes following preliminary findings issued in March by Florida-based SRG Technology, which conducted the review of Cobb schools’ special education program.
For one, the district has created a new manual for parents to help them better navigate the often complex process of determining what their special-needs children require in school settings.
The district plans to hold at least four public events to engage parents about how to make the special-needs process more effective and parent-friendly. The district wants to create a parent advisory group to work with Cobb schools on special-needs issues.
The district is also now making sure each school will have a special education administrator on campus so parents can get more timely and direct responses to questions and concerns.
In addition, the district plans to put in writing how it determines what kind of classroom setting is the most inclusive and least restrictive for special-needs students.
“The more written processes we have in place, the more consistency we can follow them … to make sure protocols are being followed,” and fix problems when they arise, Davis said.
“We see the opportunity to really define what least restrictive environment means in practice and also have that in writing.”
In Georgia, close to 185,000 children with disabilities, ages 3 to 21, attend public schools, according to the Georgia Department of Education. Cobb, the state’s second-largest school system with close to 110,000 students, has 14,000 special-needs students.
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