Education Students

U.S. DISTRICT JUDGE Marvin J. Garbis' recent threat to hold in contempt top Baltimore City school officials for failure to properly maintain a computer tracking system is the latest salvo in a war over special education that's been fought in court since 1984. Unfortunately, the computer glitches are peripheral to the central issue and ugly truth about the long-running lawsuit: Despite federal court supervision since the mid-1980s, the city's special education program is still failing to significantly improve the academic performance of students with disabilities.

In a major break in a 14-year-old special education lawsuit, Baltimore school officials have agreed to a series of steps that will allow more disabled students to learn in regular classrooms -- from primary grades to vocational-technical school.As a result, officials believe, the high percentage of children labeled as special education students will be reduced, and the ++ escalating costs of educating those children in separate, expensive and unequal classrooms will be cut.An agreement signed yesterday by U.S. District Court Judge Marvin J. Garbis comes after years of costly wrangling over special education and reduces the interference of special education attorneys in the day-to-day management of the schools.

Bruce Watt learned enough in Carroll County schools to read aloud his earnest request to the school board yesterday."I want to graduate with my friends," said Mr. Watt, 19, who is a student at South Carroll High School. He can walk across the stage if he wants to and pick up his diploma next June.But if he does, he'll give up academic and "life-skills" services he normally would be entitled to until age 21 as a special education student."I want to learn to live on my own," said Megan Roland, 17, a Westminster High School student who also spoke to the board urging a change in the either-or policy for special education.

THE SUN'S recent series on the failure of special education in city schools has provoked a long-overdue public debate. Unfortunately, some reactions are likely to make the situation worst.The articles focused on data showing far more city students in special education than in other Maryland and major urban districts, with spending per special education student being roughly three times spending for regular education. This has triggered suggestions for wholesale retesting of special education students.

Schools comments need clarification A letter published in The Sun on Jan. 21, "Story focus skews debate on schools," made some egregious statements about special education students and their parents that need to be corrected or clarified. Fact: Special education IS expensive- expensive because interventions are based on specialized, individualized programs and services as necessary to meet the special needs of individual students. However, it's not discretionary spending for school systems - it's the law. Congress passed the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA)

Robert Booker was hired this summer to head Baltimore's public schools, but does he really have the authority to manage the system?Can he negotiate a union contract with teachers? Can he write a teacher job evaluation policy, and can he hire and fire principals and high-level administrators?Most school administrators take such power for granted.But in Baltimore, lawyers representing special education students say they should have a say in all of those decisions and dozens of others. They are going to federal court Friday to argue for it.It will be the latest skirmish in a 14-year legal battle over the needs of special education students, with a new city school administration taking its first crack at gaining control of its policies and day-to-day operations.

The longer children attend Baltimore's elementary schools, the further they fall behind their peers nationwide, according to results of the first math and reading tests given two months ago that will be used to measure the progress of city school reform efforts.Baltimore's first-graders arrive at school with skills only a few months behind those of most children across the country, according to the California Diagnostic tests in reading and math.But by fifth grade, they are as much as 1 1/2 years behind -- reading at about a third-grade level and performing math at about a fourth-grade level.

About 70 Waterloo Elementary students will continue walking to school now that the county school board has decided not to reinstate bus service.In a unanimous vote yesterday, the five-member board upheld school Superintendent Michael E. Hickey's decision to end bus service to Kendall Ridge neighborhood students after the Columbia Association built a pathway that connects their homes to Waterloo.Board members, all of whom noted that they had walked the heavily wooded path, said they felt the walkway was just as good or better than pathways in other school districts.

MOSTLY LOST in the historic furor two years ago over the Republican U.S. senator who left the GOP and handed control of the Senate to the Democrats was his reason for doing it. The last straw in a long line of frustrations, Sen. James M. Jeffords of Vermont said at the time, was President Bush's refusal to guarantee the federal government would make good on its 1975 promise to pay nearly half the cost of educating disabled children. Mr. Jeffords' dramatic gesture caused quite an upheaval.

Baltimore school system officials appealed yesterday a federal judge's order giving the state control over a significant portion of the system's operations because of its failings in special education. The system is appealing the order, filed Aug. 12 by U.S. District Judge Marvin J. Garbis, to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Garbis authorized the state to send managers to oversee eight school system departments that affect special education, including finance, instruction and human resources.