Education

National experts: Alleged violations in Bixby ‘shocking’

November 14, 2024

Ray Carter

Alleging violations of their children’s rights under state and federal special-education law, nine families in Bixby filed a complaint with the Oklahoma Department of Education (OSDE) earlier this year.

The case has received national attention, and during a recent online forum experts said the alleged treatment of Bixby children with Down syndrome and autism is appalling even on a 50-state scale.

 “What the parents were saying had been happening and some of the decisions that had been made were kind of shocking,” said Fred Buglione, chief executive officer of the New Jersey Coalition for Inclusive Education, which supports families of students with disabilities. “I’m from Jersey, which is the least inclusive state in the country, so for me to be shocked by some of these things … Because I’m like, ‘That’s an ADA violation. That’s an IDEA violation. That’s code violations. What is going on here?’”

ADA refers to the federal Americans with Disabilities Act. IDEA refers to the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Monica Ahearn, a former director of special education who now works as a parent advocate with IncludeNJ, an organization supporting families of students with disabilities, assisted the Bixby parents in their fight.

Like Buglione, Ahearn said the Bixby case is astounding. She said the Bixby case involves not just a denial of student inclusion, but apparent disregard for the law.

“It’s so shocking,” Ahearn said.

In particular, Ahearn was dismayed by the attitude of Bixby officials towards children with Down syndrome and autism.

“These are children we’re talking about,” Ahearn said. “And the comments and some of the things that are coming out of educators’ mouths are equally shocking. I think that we are probably in for a long, hard fight, but we’re all up for it.”

Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) law, children with special needs have the right to an education in the “least restrictive environment,” a phrase that means children should be incorporated into general-education classrooms with non-disabled peers as much as possible.

The nine Bixby families sought to have their children incorporated into general-education classes to a much greater extent, noting that reams of research show that is a best practice. But Bixby officials have refused to accommodate those requests.

As a result, the nine families filed a complaint with the Oklahoma State Department of Education in May. Eight of the families have children with Down syndrome and one has a child with autism.

The OSDE investigation found Bixby failed to properly document the decision-making process that resulted in the children being segregated into separate classrooms for much of the school day.

That forced Bixby officials to hold new individualized education program (IEP) team meetings with the nine children’s parents.

But Bixby parents said those meetings were not productive.

“None of us had good outcomes from these meetings,” said Kristen Whitmer, a parent involved in the case.

School Districts Have Lawyers, While Parents’ Finances Are Limited

One possible reason Bixby officials feel free to continue balking is that schools have substantial taxpayer resources to pay lawyers to fight families in court while parents’ finances are limited, and schools have also locked up a substantial share of attorneys with relevant subject-matter expertise.

“Unfortunately, in Oklahoma, we have about five or six special-education attorneys, and two of them work full time for the school-district law firms that represent most of the school districts in Oklahoma,” said Lucia Frohling, director of parent services at Oklahoma Parents for Student Achievement (OPSA), an organization that assists parents working to improve their child’s education. “So that’s a pretty difficult process for parents, and it’s pretty scary.”

Karmen Haley noted her son’s future “depends upon the choices we make today,” but Bixby school officials appear indifferent to that reality.

“One district administrator repeatedly told me if I disagreed, I should take it to the state,” Haley said.

Bixby officials also benefit from the fact that Oklahoma law allows them to run roughshod over parental wishes in ways that might not be allowed when dealing with students who do not have disabilities.

“There’s only 17 states in the United States that are considered ‘consent states,’” Frohling said. “The rest of us are non-consent states, which means the parents only have the power to consent to evaluations of their child and the initial provision of services. Anything after that you can disagree and the school can still implement it.”

While procedural safeguards are provided for parents, when due-process violations are alleged, parents have only two options, Frohling noted. The parents can represent themselves in legal proceedings, or they can hire an attorney—and good luck finding an attorney.

“My last meeting, the district administrator was like, ‘You need to hear me: You can disagree with us, but it changes nothing,’” Whitmer said. “So, even though I disagreed, the school still went forward with what they proposed, because we don’t have a right beyond that.”

The lack of parental consent for the education of a child with special needs is in sharp contrast to the rights afforded to Oklahoma parents of typically developing children.

“I have a typical developing son, and I got to choose if he was the honors track or the regular track diploma,” Frohling said. “There’s no reason why parents who have students with disabilities should not be afforded that same right for their child, and that should not be decided—in my opinion—at the age of three.”

The Bixby parents and national experts discussed the case on a recent episode of “The Art of Advocacy,” hosted by Charmaine Thaner, an inclusion advocate and founder of Collaborative Special Education Advocacy.

“It is really heartbreaking when you see your young kids and you know that their opportunities are being limited,” Thaner said.

Bixby parents say they are considering all options to make certain their children receive a quality education.

“Obviously, our kids are number one here,” said Katy Hough, one of the Bixby nine. “We want them to be successful and to have every opportunity. We want them to grow up to be successful, independent, wonderful, contributing members to society. And we know that that starts with education, and we will not stop until we get our voices heard—because we want our children to have bright futures.”