Heard Out: Kimberly Cutino views traditional therapies at MPUSD as inadequate for her kids, Bella and Tony (pictured). “Having deaf kids is easy compared to having to deal with MPUSD.” Photo by Nic Coury.
Under the Rug
MPUSD parents say special-ed kids aren’t getting attention they need.
Thursday, September 13, 2012
At 15 months, Tony Cutino acts like a lot of toddlers, with his propensity to shake keys. But the sound of jingling is brand new to him.
Like his 3-year-old sister Bella, Tony was born deaf. Instead of learning sign language, though, the children both received cochlear implants, small devices that connect electrodes to the auditory nerve and allow the user to hear.
Tony’s implants got turned on in May and his mom, Kimberly Cutino, says he’s picking up words quickly.
But Cutino’s been battling the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District over which therapies are right for her kids. Based on the complex legal jargon of special-ed rules for public schools, she’s asking the district to cover the $650-a-month cost for Bella’s specialist.
MPUSD’s specialists, Cutino says, aren’t trained in teaching kids with cochlear implants to listen and speak. “People who believe in sign language do not like children getting cochlear implants,” she says, “[because] they’re more a part of mainstream society.”
Cutino is one of a half-dozen MPUSD moms of children with disabilities who meet weekly to strategize about getting more specialized therapies in the district – or getting the district to cover outside services, a long shot.
Under state law, MPUSD is required to prepare an individualized education plan (IEP) for each of its 1,140 special-ed students, mapping out a ratio of mainstream classroom time to therapeutic one-on-ones.
If parents and the district disagree about what belongs in these plans, the county Special Education Local Plan Area offers alternative dispute resolution. SELPA processes about 10 to 20 complaints a year, just a fraction of some 6,600 special-ed students countywide.
Cutino is in talks with MPUSD officials through SELPA’s alternative dispute resolution process. If the parties don’t come to an agreement, Cutino is considering legal action. “Should Bella not receive her needed services through a qualified provider, further action will have to be taken,” she wrote in an Aug. 28 letter to the district board.
MPUSD and SELPA officials declined to comment on specific cases, citing confidentiality.
The State Department of Education was unable to provide figures on how many complaints they receive directly from MPUSD parents, and declined to provide copies of investigation documents; the Weekly has filed a Public Records Act request to get the reports.
In one complaint to the state, closed June 1, the district was ordered to provide an additional 60 minutes of missed speech therapy for Lori Arnaldo’s daughter, who has a condition called speech apraxia that makes it difficult for the child to translate thoughts into speech.
But on the other three, and more serious, allegations in Arnaldo’s complaint, the Department of Education found MPUSD to be in compliance when it came to overall programming for speech and language intervention services.
Arnaldo says she had to give up full-time work to care for her autistic son, and when MPUSD wouldn’t cover the cost of a non-district preschool for her daughter, she and her husband short-sold their home.
“I had no choice but to put her there,” Arnaldo says. “It was [MPUSD’s] doing because they were so negligent.”
SELPA Executive Director Carol Lankford says the district has no obligation to use a vendor selected by a parent unless the parent can establish the program the school offers is not appropriate.
“Unfortunately, it often pits parents against districts because the districts have the funds,” Lankford says. “Parents, of course, want what they believe to be the best program.”
MPUSD Superintendent Marilyn Shepherd says public schools simply can’t muster the funds for that. “School districts can’t provide the very, very best. School districts are able to provide the baseline,” she says. “We have a lot of parents who are very happy, but we’re not always going to make everybody happy.”
That’s despite a $16.4 million special-ed annual budget, which averages nearly $14,500 per student – nearly three times a typical student’s allocation.
Arnaldo’s daughter goes to Avalon Preschool in Monterey, which integrates typical and special-ed kids and charges $50-$1,000 per month depending on the level of individualized support needed. Avalon contracts with Spreckels, P.G. and Carmel school districts, which don’t offer as much in-house therapy as MPUSD.
One parent, Jennifer Zeidberg, had a typical daughter and an autistic son enrolled at Avalon, which she feels MPUSD should’ve covered. But she couldn’t resolve differences with the district over where to place her son.
Zeidberg’s solution was to move to Pacific Grove. Her son now attends Robert Down Elementary and goes to art, library and science classes with typical kids instead of being relegated to a special-ed classroom all day long.
“The people here care about my son in a way MPUSD could never understand,” she says.
Comments
Excellent article! It's about time somebody got outraged by this inept school district. These children are the most vulnerable and they and their families are treated appallingly. High priced lawyers are the only way to battle the ugly monster that is MPUSD. Most of these families don't have the financial means or the energy left to fight. No wonder people put their kids in private schools or move to Carmel and Pacific Grove.
Parents and teachers are to afraid to fight from the recourse of them informing the community. We do not have a local special education attorney, the district roles the dice against the fact that the parent does not have the financial means to pay for the legal representation. At this time, they have won every time. It is cheaper for the district to pay for the requested services, but they choose to gamble against the helpless parent and pay their out-of-town attorneys. Take a look at their legal fees on the MPUSD website budget report. That is their playing card and they are covering their "costs" with the $14,000 that should be used for the students quality direct services. These kids then become the responsibility of Pacific grove and Carmel. But the parent pay the biggest price. Up-rooting their families and short-selling/foreclosing their homes.
GREAT Article! Your doing an amazing job advocating for your children Kim!
Very informative and excellent article. I hope all this hard work and research pays off for the Cutino Family.... allowing the best education and services for lil Tony and Bella. I would hope that MPUSD would listen to these mothers of disabled children and work with them instead of trying to do it "their way".
This article is quite enlightening. To think that the MPUSD staff does not consider the parents' decision is just one more aspect of their abuse of the authoritative power that was given to them. We all pay taxes for our school's whether we have children or not. If parents choose not to use the in-adiquate services the district chooses for parents, then we pay again for a specialist, private placement or send them to PG or Carmel School district and loose what little equity they have in their homes . As parents and as a moral community we want the best for our children. MPUSD gets enough money for special education that they should give options to meet the appropriate needs of children. Maybe they should take a look at all the money they waste fighting parents. All of our children these days need every resource and advantage that they can get to compete in the world as adults. If parents and this community choose not to fight for our kids. Who will?
This ineptness is so typical of MPUSD! It's all about mismanagement by top school district administrators. They believe the power is theirs. A waste of tax dollars and a total LACK OF COMPASSION! Let's be sure the superintendent has a new Lexus every year and all the perks. Leave dedicated teachers to struggle the best they can and supplement teaching needs out of their own pockets with donations from financially strapped parents. Administrators hire the cheapest unqualified specialists to tend to our students with special needs. Do the admin care that our schools are in the lowest stratus of the nation? No, it's all about their self justification! I know from what I write. My family has had a constant struggle for five years to ensure that my special needs granddaughter receives her rightful education. It's shameful that our children's education matters so little to Monterey school district officials! PARENTS & TAXPAYERS please speak out!
This article is great! I understand exactly what it's like to deal with these RETARDS! My daughter has cochlear implants and is mainstreamed into a classroom at monte vista. It's not because of anything MPUSD ever did for us and I feel sorry for the people coming in. Every year they cut the budget more it seems and put even more less qualified people in charge of our children's education. If my family had the money I would move to PG or Carmel too! The best part that the article doesn't say is that the new speech therapist that the school district hired has a speech impediment of her own! My daughter can barley understand her and she's the one teaching our deaf kids how to speak! WOW! To me and my family this is very unacceptable! They need to spend that $14,500 on paying a real speech therapist or give it back to the families to pay for someone themselves. The MPUSD has been disappointing me since the day my oldest kid went to his first day in kindergarten. These people need to be stopped! Along with their misappropriation of our children's special needs children. If these kids were foreign it wouldn't be this hard. Which is even more sad and a whole different subject!
I am saddened by this article and the fact that people are going to read this and think that ALL MPUSD parents feel this way. This could not be farther from the truth. This article and "opinion" ONLY represents a handful of parents. The part that saddens me the most is what "Shanky76" wrote. How dare you use the the R-word in any capacity but let alone as a derogatory term. I am a parent of a beautiful child who has an intellectual disability. I am proud of my child and want the very best for her and I will fight FOR my child. I am more then pleased with the services and supports my child has received in MPUSD. When relocating to the Peninsula I researched the Districts and services available for my child and purposefully choose to live within MPUSD boundaries to access these services. If you truly are so unhappy with the services available to your mainstreamed daughter, than I am one parent that would be happy to see you go! And as far as your comment on the therapist with her own impediment.....wow, isn't that the "pot calling the kettle black". How are you going to feel or think if/when your daughter is ever spoken about in the same manor you have just spoken about this person?
In the current economic status, I applaud MPUSD. My daughter has made incredible progress since we have been here. That progress has been noted by our family and friends. I thank MPUSD and all of the staff that work so hard and deal with parents like you, for continuing to come in day in and day out and dedicate their efforts to improving our children's lives. You should take a second and do the same thing.
In and effort to educate Shanky76 and anyone else, the following is a link to END the R-Word. http://www.r-word.org
and a link to the "r" word campaign. http://www.therword.org
In all sincerity, I'm wondering how a parent of a child with an intellectual disability would think that their child was receiving the very best education if the child's therapist / teacher had an intellectual disability? Walk a mile in my shoes.
You obviously focused on the wrong things in my comments. The teachers and the staff in my daughters school are very good and I have had a great experience with them. That said, the MPUSD district is the problem when they go out of ther way to higher the underqualified people for some critical jobs. Not all of them are but there are a few in particular. I take my child's education very seriously! You seem to be the only person I've heard that had a good experience with MPUSD. you must be related to someone in the front office. The district over the last 15 yrs had done a lot of questionsble things, they like to tell everyone they value there opinion but still do what they want. I'm not sure what you mean by " the pot calling the kettle black" I said nothing about the new speech therapist that was not true. This person was also not familiar with my child's devices or how they worked. I think you may have gotten the MPUSD mixed up with the county offices. MPUSD has been trying to phase out the county for years and they just don't have the resources that they should. They need to do there homework better. I not sure what you mean by intellectual ability but I think our situations may be different. I don't need a lecture on the "R" word and I don't appreciate it. It is my opinion based on the facts of my family's situation. I think the people reading these comments should be smart enough to figure that out without over reacting.
To Moreluckier.... I am happy to hear that one person is receiving quality services in MPUSD. It is good to hear that with their 16.4 million dollars at least one parent is happy. I think the most important thing that needs to be recognized is that every child is different and each disability is different. Maybe you daughter is exceeding your expectations that you had set for her, and MPUSD has helped her overcome her challenges. But I think with the parents in the article that their certain child's needs are not being met by MPUSD. And they are just throwing them in the "System" and they will never be able to accomplish what they are able to accomplish. If there are other SPED parents that you know who are happy, I encourage you to have them comment as well. You are the 1st person I have heard who is happy. Good luck to you and your family, raising children with special needs is not easy but it is rewarding.
After thinking about what I said I realized that I got a little ahead of myself and off subject. I would like to apologize for the "r" word. I didn't mean it to offend anyone. I also seem to have mis spoke about the staff at my child's school, I accused the wrong person and I apologize. I'm still very upset with the way the Mpusd is run, but that's a different story.
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