The district now faces corrective action after a coalition of civil rights and disability rights groups filed a complaint with the Texas Education Agency alleging that Corpus Christi ISD's truancy practices discriminate against students with disabilities. are doing.
In February, Texas Disability Rights, the National Youth Law Center, Texas Appleseed, and the Texas Civil Rights Project found that school districts' reliance on truancy courts drives students out of traditional school programs and that they are unable to receive benefits such as GEDs. filed a complaint with the TEA against CCISD, alleging that the student is being admitted to an educational institution of Alternative Education Options.
On Thursday, the organizations received a response from TEA determining that CCISD violated its obligations to identify and evaluate students with disabilities who were referred for truancy between February 6, 2023 and February 6, 2024. announced. According to the rights group's summary of the TEA's findings, the district did not ensure that special education-eligible students who were referred as truants during that period received modified individual education programs.
The district is currently reviewing the files of all students referred to court for truancy to ensure there are no violations and is implementing policies and procedures to notify the IEP team of concerns before truancy referrals are made. It is mandatory to revise the guidelines.
“CCISD addresses administrative concerns through the TEA complaint process,” district spokeswoman Leanne Libby said in an email Thursday. “While we are unable to share additional information at this time, we are cooperating fully with the process.”
Over the past four years, Corpus Christi ISD has seen an increase in the number of special education students.
According to a March presentation to the CCISD Board of Directors, the district was found to be noncompliant with some of the TEA special education state performance plan indicators in 2020-2021. It is said that this will be corrected by the end of the year. The district was 100% compliant in the 2021-22 school year and is currently pursuing corrective action as a result of the 2022-23 non-compliance assessment.
This 2022-23 default assessment is separate from the current complaint regarding truancy and relates to the completion of a timely initial assessment and ARD meeting.
According to an announcement in March, the local special education bureau at the time had 43 vacancies for teachers, 55 vacancies for paraprofessionals, 8 vacancies for speech therapists, 3 vacancies for educational diagnosticians, and 43 vacancies for school psychologists. He pointed out that there were two vacancies.
What did the truancy claim allege?
In the two years leading up to the filing of the truancy complaint, civil rights groups observed dozens of court proceedings involving Corpus Christi ISD students. According to the complaint, observers witnessed students being forced to leave the school based on the school district's recommendations, even though they had petitioned the court to remain in the school.
According to the original complaint, the groups found that Corpus Christi ISD was more dependent on truancy courts than other districts in the state. During the 2021-22 school year, 13% of CCISD students referred to truancy court were receiving special education services.
School-age children are required to attend school, but families may choose private or home school options if a temporary physical or mental condition makes attendance impossible, or if the child Exceptions exist if you have dropped out of school or are taking a high school graduation level exam.
If a student does not attend school for more than 10 days within six months of the same academic year, it is a violation of the Compulsory Education Act. If she is absent for more than three days in a four-week period, the school will alert parents and initiate truancy prevention measures.
From that point on, the school has the power to refer the student to truancy court. When a case is referred to truancy court, the judge has discretion over what consequences the student faces.
The complaint cites Texas court data showing that Nueces County will be responsible for 11% of all truancy cases in the state in 2022. Only 1% of Texas' population lives in the county.
Within Nueces County, the complaint compares CCISD to other Corpus Christi school districts, finding that CCISD is filing truancy court at a higher rate than Flower Bluff ISD and West Oso ISD.
Between 2015-16 and 2021-22, Corpus Christi ISD referred 6,785 students to truancy court, with 780 of those students receiving special education services, according to the complaint.
The complaint also describes the experiences of three CCISD students who were sent to truancy court, and who received special education services despite having symptoms such as dyslexia, depression, and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder. It also describes cases in which people were not allowed to receive such treatment.
The complaint states that the school district filed a truancy complaint against one student just two months after he was released from a psychiatric hospital.
This week, the two organizations shared an overview of TEA's response to complaints.
According to the summary, the TEA investigated two complaints and found non-compliance. It ensures that the district is not fulfilling its obligations to students who are not eligible for special education and are referred as truants, and that the district ensures that the student's IEP is revised to address the truancy. That didn't happen. Eligible for students eligible for special education services.
Dustin Linders, legal director for the Texas Civil Rights Project, said he observed truancy court proceedings in Corpus Christi this month, just before learning of the TEA's findings.
Linders said he witnessed intense questioning of special education students and their parents, but was not asked about what the school did to resolve the situation.
“To me, I would like to see schools avoid their responsibility to provide special education and instead initiate court proceedings that are punitive and do not help address the underlying disability-related needs of the student who caused the absence. It's really heartbreaking to see, the school,” Linders said.
Linders said the remedial action the TEA assigned to CCISD is consistent with the demands of civil rights groups.
“When you look at the documents in truancy court, there are a lot of kids… who have severe mental illness and other issues, but whether the school district has done an evaluation or not. There were no questions asked about whether special treatment was needed, 'education, or whether something different should happen in the education program,' Linders said.
Linders said school districts have an affirmative duty to evaluate and serve all students with disabilities.
“Parents (should) know their rights and know how to ask. That's the responsibility of the school district,” Linders said.
What action should Corpus Christi ISD take?
In response to inquiries from the Caller-Times, the Texas Education Agency confirmed that the district had been assigned a corrective action plan and said a Freedom of Information request would be required to release details of the plan.
The Caller-Times filed a Freedom of Information request about the plan Thursday.
The civil rights group provided a document outlining the information the TEA passed on to the group that filed the original complaint.
According to the summary, Corpus Christi ISD conducted a folder review of all students who were ineligible for special education and were referred as truant between February 6, 2023 and the date of the investigation report. need to do it.
For students who need to undergo a special education evaluation, the district must evaluate the student, create an IEP, and determine placement if appropriate, according to the brief.
CCISD also conducts a folder review for each student who is eligible for special education and is referred as truant during the period to determine whether the student's IEP meets their needs and to request additional evaluations. You must determine whether additional information is required to determine the cause or possible remedies. According to the summary, in case of truancy.
According to the brief, the district also revised its policies and guidelines to bridge the gap between truancy prevention and IEP teams so that IEP teams are notified of concerns before truancy referrals are submitted. It is necessary to do so.
CCISD must provide TEA with documentation of completion of corrective actions by August 30th. This includes a copy of the revised policy and guidelines, as well as a copy of the training agenda with information presented during staff development.
The district has until Sept. 30 to provide the TEA with a spreadsheet showing the actions taken as a result of the review of each folder, according to the brief.
“While the Texas Education Agency cannot control the actions of judges, we hope that through this complaint the courts themselves will be educated and begin to ask some of the tougher questions of schools.” Linders said.
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