Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
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November 5, 2000, Sunday, Late Edition -
Final
SECTION: Section 14NJ; Page 1; Column 4; New
Jersey Weekly Desk
LENGTH: 2894 words
HEADLINE: From the Classroom To the Trenches
BYLINE: By DEBRA NUSSBAUM
BODY:
IN September 1999, Kathleen Rotter -- who had
been the special education administrator in the Hillsborough School District for
eight trying years -- wanted out.
Dr. Rotter, who today is an assistant
professor of special education at the College of New Jersey, looks back on those
years with a sadness tinged with weariness: There was the threat of litigation,
the telephone messages from irate parents, the constant crisis atmosphere. "I
sat back and said, 'I'm so tense,' " said the 51-year-old Dr. Rotter, who
described herself and was described by others as an energetic and positive
person. "I called it being afraid of my desk. I would think, what's the next
crisis? I needed a break. I needed a rest."
When she would talk to her
colleagues, they would not say, "Hang in there, it gets better." Other special
services directors around the state would tell her that the job was the most
contentious in education and that many of them were looking for a parachute.
"They are going out earlier than they planned because they are
exhausted," Dr. Rotter said.
Since the passage in 1975 of the
Individuals With Disabilities Education Act guaranteeing a
"free and appropiate public education" for all disabled students, special
education has become one of the most pressing issues in schools today. With the
broadening of the federal law, the number of eligible children has also crept
upward, and the pressure on special education administrators has intensified
proportionately.
Yet to Diana Autin, executive director of Statewide
Parent Advocacy Network, known as SPAN, a nonprofit group that advises and
informs parents and professionals of educational rights and programs for
children with disabilities, the directors of the state's special education
programs are "a very mixed bag."
Indeed, many parents contend that a
major problem with special education programs throughout the state is that the
directors are not qualified to hold such a difficult and sensitive position.
Ida Graham, director for the Office of Licensing and Credentials for the
state Department of Education, said that to qualify as a director, a person must
pass a national test to get a school administrator's license. In addition, Ms.
Graham said, potential directors must have a master's degree that includes
course work in management. But districts can -- and some do -- skirt the
requirement by not calling the person a director.
Many work their way up
from the team of personnel that draws up a student's Individualized Educational
Program, or I.E.P. Or, they can be school psychologists, though there is no
specific training set out by state or federal law.
As most
superintendents tell it, a good special education administrator is hard to find,
and even more difficult to keep, even though most of them earn from $80,000 to
$120,000 a year -- about the same as public high school principals.
"I
spent most of my time dealing with issues of litigation, issues of law and
issues of paper," said Dr. Rotter. "Most of us went into this because we like
children. I wanted to do curriculum and teacher training. This took me away from
that front. You become a financial manager."
Moreover, in this more
litigious era, parents are more inclined to try to recover attorney's fees in
court should they decide to fight their school districts. Services like
occupational therapy and physical therapy that might once have been financed by
insurance companies are now expected to be provided in schools. Disabilities
among classified children range from those who need speech therapy to those with
multiple handicaps who need a myriad of health care professionals to accompany
them through their school day.
The laws are continuously changing, and
because New Jersey -- among other states -- is being monitored by the federal
Department of Education, several districts in turn are being closely watched by
the state.
There are about 212,000 students from the age 3 to 21
receiving special education through New Jersey public school districts -- up
from 180,000 in 1990 -- said Barbara Gantwerk, director of the Office of Special
Education Programs for the state Department of Education.
"It's a huge
range," said Ms. Gantwerk.
Mari Molenaar, a senior research analyst for
the state Department of Education, said projections showed the number of
children receiving special education would rise until 2003, and then begin
declining in 2004.
And, of course, the increase in students requiring
special education has also resulted in more court cases. In the 1999-2000 school
year, for example, there were 1,233 requests from parents or the school
districts for mediation or, failing that, a court hearing, said Dennis Moyer,
the Department of Education's coordinator of dispute resolution.
"It's
significantly more than 10 years ago, but the patterns have remained consistent
the past three or four years," Mr. Moyer said. Of those 1,233, cases, about 530
cases were headed to the court. In addition, some were resolved during the
hearing and others were withdrawn. Ultimately, about 100 cases resulted in
judicial rulings.
"We are seeing more lawsuits, and the landscape is
changing dramatically," said Stephen Fogarty, whose law firm, Fogarty &
Hara, in Fair Lawn represents 38 school districts in the state. In the past five
years, his firm has also handled about a dozen federal civil rights lawsuits,
which allow parents to name school staff members in the suit. These legal
actions, "strike fear in the heart of directors," Mr. Fogarty said.
"They are naming the director of special services individually," he
said, "and it has a chilling effect."
But even if administrators do not
end up in court, they feel the threat. And that, school administrators say, may
be steering people away from the job.
"It's extremely difficult to find
special services directors," said Dr. James McLaughlin, who has been director of
special services for the South Orange-Maplewood School District since March and
is president-elect of the New Jersey Association of Pupil Service
Administrators. "A lot of districts go through prolonged searches. There isn't
the idea of stability in the field that there once was. It's very demanding with
a lot of issues on the fringe of litigation."
The selection of Dr.
McLaughlin is just one example of the recent churning in this most sensitive of
areas.
After Steve Overy retired from the South Orange-Maplewood School
District in June 1998, the district went through two directors before hiring Dr.
McLaughlin last spring.
Angela Caruso, associate superintendent for the
Department of Special Programs in Newark, where 4,500 of the city's 44,000
public school students qualify for special services, said there had been three
directors in the past five years. Administrators there searched for three months
before finding Dr. Helene Feldman, who started in January as director of the
office of special education. Mrs. Caruso said the district was fortunate to get
Dr. Feldman, who had experience in special education in urban districts.
"It has been difficult to fill the position," Mrs. Caruso said. "There's
a huge amount of paperwork, not only for the director but for the whole child
study team. We are having difficulty filling all positions in special
education."
The Millburn School Board District has been trying to
replace its director of special services, Dr. Laura Levin Mardyks, since July --
she had been in the job only three years. In recent months, two people were
offered the position, said Dr. James Donovan, superintendent of schools there,
but both turned it down because their respective schools made attractive
counteroffers.
"A lot of people simply don't want to go into that
position," said Dr. Donovan, who himself was a special services director in
another district from 1972 to 1979. "The intensity of the position has increased
dramatically. Today, you have to have a legal background. You have attorneys in
the state that this is their main source of income. It's a highly tense
position."
Part of the problem with special education administrators,
said Ms. Autin of the parent advocacy group, is that "many of them don't know
the law, which is sad."
When Judith Simkin started as the director of
special services in Evesham Township 11 years ago, she said she was taught
almost immediately that "you have to treat every file as potential due process."
"It's a very demanding job," Mrs. Simkin said. "You can't just do things
quickly and move them off your desk. Paper trails are important and crucial. You
have to be a good listener and you can't get upset because a parent makes
demands. Parents are very concerned and make many requests. You are constantly
going back to the laws. Over the years, parents have become very savvy and they
will challenge a school district."
Finally last spring, Mrs. Simkin
resigned from her job as director of special services to become principal of the
district's newest elementary school.
Harriet Beckerman, who has been
principal of the Wyoming School in Millburn since 1998, said that when she was a
school principal in the small district from 1993 through 1995, she had to fill
the positions of director of curriculum as well as director of special
education.
"That's not unique in this state," Mrs. Beckerman said. "But
it's definitely a full-time job in itself."
As a principal, she said she
gets to see the happy parents along with those who have complaints, and she gets
to interact with students on a daily basis. "The nature of the special services
job is that it takes you very far away from children," said Mrs. Beckerman.
"There are fun parts of my job now. I'm not sure there are fun parts in that
job. You are rarely the recipient of good news or praise."
More often,
there are telephone messages from parents -- running the gamut of emotions from
upset to irate -- and, if the stakes have been raised, from their lawyers.
The process of making decisions about a child can go from collegial to
cutthroat quickly. Each case takes on a life of its own, and can snowball like
this: If parents and a school district cannot come to terms on what should be
done for a child, either the parents or the administrators can request state
mediation. One of the state's five mediators will hear both sides. If no
agreement can be reached, either party can take the case to an administrative
law judge for a hearing. A judge's ruling can be appealed by either party in
state or federal court.
Sometimes parents want the child to be included
more frequently in a regular classroom setting than a student's prescribes;
other times, the parents want the district to pay to have the child educated in
a private school if they feel the district's solution is inadequate. In yet
other instances, the fight can be over such issues as the level of service: How
many times a week a child will get speech or occupational therapy?
Ms.
Autin observed of special education directors: "They often come from special
education and don't know about curriculum. They do see themselves as being
caught between a rock and a hard place."
Joanne McKeown, the parent of a
child with multiple disabilities who is also on the staff of SPAN, went to
mediation years ago because she wanted her daughter to participate more
frequently in a regular classroom.
Finally, Ms. McKeown said, the family
moved within the state to get into a district that would allow her daughter a
more inclusive atmosphere. But her current district has had two special services
directors in the past six years, which she worries will interfere with the
relationship that she feels is crucial to her 18-year-old daughter's well-being.
"It's important that you know that director and the director knows you,"
Ms. McKeown said. "That director has to believe in my child. If they think she
is a throwaway, we can't go anywhere."
This school year, her daughter
will march with her graduating class and go to the senior prom.
One
mother, who declined to be identified for fear of retaliation, described how her
child was diagnosed with autism at an early age, and she and her husband wanted
special services from the school district to begin when the child turned 3,
which is what federal law stipulates.
After they waited what they felt
was a reasonable period and the district still had not acted, the parents went
to the school district and reminded it of the legal consequences. Five months
after the child turned 3, the services finally began.
"It's a classic
thing they do," the mother said. "They stall."
Cases that end up in
front of a state mediator or in the courtroom usually revolve around the best
possible placement for the child. Sometimes the district initiates the action
because it does not agree with the parents. Other times, the parents want the
school district to pay for the child's out-of-district tuition.
"It
seems that placement issues are a contested area,' said Dr. Frances Stromsland,
who is president of the New Jersey Association of Pupil Services Administrators
and director of special services in the Cranford School District. "We try to
bring in every possible concern, and the parents are equal partners on the
team."
But with 15.3 percent of the New Jersey's 1.3 million public
school students needing special services, resources are extremely tight in many
districts. Placements in special nonresidential schools can cost more $25,000 a
year, and residential schools can cost twice as much.
"There are limited
dollars to spend per pupil," said Dr. Rotter. "Litigation draws that money away.
I knew that $100,000 on a court case was $100,000 that couldn't be used for
books. You are constantly receiving more and more requests for services that
used to come from other areas."
The fear of lawsuits may even drive the
decision-making about what services a pupil is given in some districts, she
said. "Teams say yes to things they wouldn't have said yes to a few years ago,"
she said, including high-priced therapies that produce questionable outcomes.
But a few thousand dollars for a treatment is cheaper than a long court battle.
James Scagliotti, who has been director of special services in Montclair
for the past 14 months, and before that a special services administrator in
Pennsylvania for 22 years, put it like this: "The law leaves a lot open to
interpretation."
In 1997, Congress reauthorized the Individuals
with Disabilities Education Act, or IDEA. And while it made changes in
such areas as disciplinary policies and the composition of the team that
determines a student's I.E.P., the law cannot specify what is the most
appropriate course of action for each child.
"The mood has changed and
there is less talking about education issues and more about compliance issues,'
said Jeffrey Palmer, who has spent 20 years in special education, who recently
replaced Ms. Simkin as director of special services in Evesham Township. "We are
much more ambitious and careful about everything that goes into a students file.
Everything is documented."
While there is more threat of litigation,
mediation and parental involvement than ever before, Mr. Palmer said he did not
necessarily consider those factors to be destructive. Parents have become more
educated over the years and are more willing to get involved, he said.
While the state mediation process is time-consuming to prepare for, Mr.
Palmer said, usually mediators can resolve cases in a way that the
administration can "retain a good relationship with the parents."
"Intervention can't always be avoided," he said. "I actually like
mediation. It's a good step, and a better forum than a hearing."
A good
relationship between the parents and the special education administrator is
crucial, and can sometimes make the difference between resolving issues in the
school office or in a courtroom.
"I do my best to try to mediate and be
candid with parents," said Mr. Scagliotti. "It's certainly emotionally charged.
This is their child. I keep the love the parents have for this child in my mind.
They want their kids to succeed."
Directors say that to stay in the job
you must have a good relationship with your superintendent, school board and
staff, be able to communicate with parents and have a personality that does not
absorb all the adversity that can surround you on some days.
"You have
to watch that you don't burn out, and you can't get caught up in the
negativism," said Mr. Scagliotti. "I have to exercise three times a week just to
get my mind off things. I do get some satisfaction. When you see a kid having a
problem, you provide intervention and they succeed. It's very satisfying."
Then there is Dr. Louis Flumen, who is in his 27th year as a special
education administrator in the School District of the Chathams.
Dr.
Flumen says he has seen changes in the laws, an increase in the number of
children with complex disorders and multiple handicaps, a more litigious public
and a wider range of services the schools are called on to provide. Though he
said he had not been involved in a state mediation for five or six years, he
said his heart went out to parents, even when they take their frustrations out
on him.
"There isn't any job that's stress-free," he said. "I've seen
positive growth and success over the years. I've always felt that I was
contributing."
http://www.nytimes.com
GRAPHIC: Photos: Kathleen Rotter has been at the
College of New Jersey since fleeing her job running special education in
Hillsborough. James McLaughglin heads special services in South
Orange-Maplewood. (Photographs by Laura Pedrick and Bridget Besaw Gorman,
bottom, for The New York Times) (pg. 1); Gathered at Belmont Runyan School in
Newark are, from left at top, Angelo Caruso, Dr. Helene Feldman and Carlita
Jones-Alford. Kathleen Rotter, above right, who left her job as a special
education director, talks to students at the College of New Jersey. (Laura
Pedrick for The New York Times) (pg. 8); Louis Flumen, special education
administrator in Chatham, says his heart goes out, even when parents take
frustrations out on him. (Nancy Wegard for The New York Times) (pg. 9)
LOAD-DATE: November 5, 2000 
