Credential requirements may close special ed school
By Stephanie Bertholdo bertholdo@theacorn.com

Weyland Academy, a private special education school in Camarillo that was expected to close last week, will remain open, officials said. But the school will have six fewer students out of what was a total of 17.

The school was threatened with closure after the California State Department of Education denied certification of the school based on changes to the special education credential requirements under Assembly Bill 1858, passed in 2005.

The bill mandated tougher standards for certification of nonpublic schools, which are privately operated but publicly funded. Without certification, the school would not be able to receive funding from local school districts.

The new rule requires that all teachers who work with autistic children carry a moderate to severe special education credential-even though many children with autism are on the mild side of the spectrum disorder. Only the school's director, Laura Valdez, carried the more rigorous credential.

Mary Samples, executive director of the Ventura County Special Education Local Plan Area (SELPA) and Valdez last week persuaded state officials to temporarily waive the new requirements so the school could reapply for certification.

Many parents, teachers and administrators questioned why the state was holding public schools less accountable to the "reinterpretation" of the special education credential.

Mary Schillinger, director of pupil services in the Las Virgenes Unified School District, said the individualized education plan (IEP) is the key to a student's placement in a "non-public school setting," but the catch is that if a child has been placed in a private school at the district's expense, the state views the child's disorder as moderate to severe.

Some students, one parent said, may be diagnosed with a mild form of autism, but behavior problems, including rigidity with schedules and hypersensitivity to noise and other stimuli, make learning in a public school nearly impossible. The student has the capacity to learn, but only in a very structured environment are they receptive to education.

The three students that were placed at Weyland from the Las Virgenes district were allowed to remain at the school for now.

"There is a lot of gray zone," Schillinger said, adding highfunctioning autistic children may not be delayed academically, but socially, emotionally and in their behavior.

At Las Virgenes, 65 teachers hold special education credentials, but only 10 carry the "moderate to severe" credential.

To earn the higher credential, a teacher must complete six additional classes, Schillinger said.

Jan Jones Wadsworth, a consultant for the Commission on Teacher Credentialing in Sacramento, explained the confusing process to David Simmons, director of Teacher Support Programs in Camarillo, in an e-mail.

"At the time the education specialist credentials were implemented, the federal disability categories were used to define which credentials would cover which disabilities," Wadsworth said.

"Currently, an education specialist-a mild/moderate credentialed teacher-may serve an autistic (Asperger's) student if the IEP team states on the IEP why that child needs services in that setting rather than with a teacher with an education specialist- moderate/severe credential. However, it is not an appropriate assignment to have a whole class of autistic students served by a teacher with an education specialist-mild/moderate credential."

The frustration level for the parents whose children were reassigned from Weyland to another school has returned. Although Weyland had only been open for 18 months, they said the children were learning there and felt comfortable and accepted in their classes.

The irony is that many children with autism loathe any form of change-one parent said if her child is told that he is to work on a certain assignment from noon to 2 p.m., that is exactly the time he will concentrate on the work. Varying the schedule is a harsh disruption, she said, which triggers a range of behavior problems.

For these children, changing schools will be difficult, parents said. Some fear that a longer bus ride to another school will set their child's progress back-far back.

"It is now the responsibility of each school district that had students placed at Weyland to work with the IEP team to find alternative school options for their students," Samples said in a message to Weyland parents on the SELPA website, www. venturaselpa.com.

"Options may include other (non-public schools), both in and outside of Ventura County, district programs, or home/hospital instruction. Each district is fully aware of the challenge and will do everything they can to ensure the least possible disruption in services," Samples said.