The Autism News | English


HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — Cuts to the Huntsville school system’s special education program still are prompting anger from some parents, despite the recent hiring of about two dozen aides for their children’s classrooms.

A spate of hiring at the beginning of the school year brought the district up to about 330 teachers, aides and other staff needed to fulfill the services dictated by special education students’ individualized education programs, or IEPs.

Dr. Casey Wardynski, the system’s new superintendent, told board members on Aug. 18 that another 11 instructional aides, an occupational therapist and a physical therapist had been hired on top of that number.

They were hired for the Academy for Academics and Arts, Williams Middle School, Challenger Elementary and Huntsville, Johnson and Lee high schools after Wardynski visited the schools and spoke with teachers and administrators.

Some parents say the children’s needs still are not being completely met.

Russell Winn, whose son has autism, said the additional hiring means one thing.

“The fact that all of these hirings occurred after the start of school proves that the Huntsville City school system was not prepared to meet the requirements of the IEPs on the first day of school,” Winn said on his blog, geekpalaver.com. “They were therefore not in compliance with federal (Individuals with Disabilities Education Act) law.”

Debbie Bumbicka, also the parent of an autistic child, told the school board on Aug. 18 that before school began she had been told there would be only two instructional aides in her 12-year-old son’s class at Challenger.

She had written to Wardynski asking for changes. “I was very pleased on Monday morning when I walked in and there was a third aide hired into that classroom,” Bumbicka said on Aug. 18.

But the third aide was temporary, she complained, and the class was back down to two aides in the second week of school.

Bumbicka also questioned Wardynski’s talk of four new aides at Challenger.

“I don’t know where they all are,” Bumbicka said. “But I can tell you that there are two children in that classroom that are somewhat aggressive, that are taking those two aides’ time. And so the teacher is left trying to teach the balance of the children in that classroom.”

Bumbicka said there is “no way” her son’s IEP is being met.

AL

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