FULTON COUNTY, Ga. — Fulton County Schools students are on spring break this week, but the district is already looking ahead to next year.
FCS said the need is growing, so the district is adding more resources in South Fulton County for students with autism. Parents got a letter dated March 31, alerting them to the changes.
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It said there will be new Autism Self-Contained programs at both Cliftondale and Stonewall Tell.
Currently, only Wolf Creek Elementary has the classrooms that are supposed to allow for individualized learning and a lower teacher-to-student ratio.
However, the letter told parents they would need to make the decision of where to send their child next school year by April 18.
Parents said they should’ve been given more notice to make such a big decision regarding their child’s education.
“It allows parents time to look at other schools and see if that’s the proper placement because there were two other options these parents were given, so give them time to schedule appointments and see if this is a correct placement for their child, to see if it’s the right teacher they want to put their child with, but we didn’t have time to do that, and it’s not fair,” Toysha Thomas, a parent of a student who is in the program at Wolf Creek told Channel 2′s Eryn Rogers.
Fulton County Schools released the following statement:
“Fulton County Schools strives to provide high-quality instruction, services, and support to all our students, including our students with disabilities. Opening new classrooms for students, regardless of their disability, is not a new process. We annually assess each student’s need for services per their Individual Education Plan (IEP), our student enrollment trends in each school community, available space at each of our schools, and then determine where to offer students the high-quality programming they deserve and are entitled to.
We are still finalizing our plans for next school year but look forward to educating all our students in schools and classrooms that best meet their individual and unique needs.”
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Thomas said another issue parents had with the letter is it said if children in certain grades wanted to stay at their current school, then transportation would be up to parents.
The district said, “In Fulton County Schools, we think it is best for students to be educated in their home school and community if possible. In situations where that is not possible, we will offer the classroom and support at a neighboring school and will provide transportation. If a student is in 5th, 8th, 10, 11th, or 12th grade and the program or class included in his/her IEP is available at the current school, a parent may opt to stay but will need to provide transportation.”
However, Thomas said that’s the opposite of what the State Department of Education said.
“If they have transportation written into their IEP, the school cannot deny them of transportation regardless of grade,” Thomas said.
Thomas filed a complaint against the district earlier this year when her son’s transportation to Wolf Creek got taken away.
In the ruling, the state Department of Education found Fulton County schools out of compliance because Thomas’s son had transportation in his IEP.
The DOE required FCS to review and revise its policies around its implementation of IEP, “specifically special needs transportation and how this applies to administrative transfers.”
FCS has until April 11 to report back to the Georgia DOE.
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