By Jarret Liotta
Far-reaching problems regarding Westport’s special education practices — and the school’s central office’s handling of those problems — were affirmed by an irate parent at Monday night’s Board of Education (BOE) meeting.
Parent Karen Ambrose denounces school special education practices at Monday night’s meeting. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow.com
The discussion followed last week’s comments by parent Rahul Kale — an assistant U.S. attorney by trade — who accused three central office administrators of illegally sharing privileged information about his children. He said they then retaliated against his family after he voiced issue about it.
Parent Karen Ambrose, who previously filed a complaint with the Department of Children and Families (DCF) against unnamed staff at Kings Highway School (KHS) in part alleging that a student had been physically restrained but that it had never been reported to the parents, blasted the BOE on the matter.
“There’s a real problem,” she said, noting that Kale’s wife, Sandhya Kale, a speech therapist at KHS, was wrongly put on leave in relation to the incident, along with principal Mary Lou DiBella.
“The people who were guilty got reinstated,” she said, while DiBella and Kale’s layoff was “totally unwarranted.”
“That’s an abuse of power,” she said.
Kale’s accusations were leveled at former Superintendent of Schools Colleen Palmer, Tina Mannarino, assistant superintendent of pupil personnel services, and John Bayers, director of human resources.
“The Board of Ed has been lied to for years,” Ambrose said, vehemently noting that she has tried to tell them so for over a year.
Kate Grijns, co-chair of the PTA’s Special Education Committee, states her case as Tina Mannarino, assistant superintendent for pupil personnel services, and John Bayers, director of human resources, listen. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Jarret Liotta for WestportNow.com
“I told everyone everything,” she said. “I can prove to you it’s amiss (but) nobody wants to hear it.”
“It has to stop …” she said. “Take the hit. Take the fall and then let our district move on.”
Kate Grijns, co-chair of the PTA Special Education (SPED) Committee, said Kale’s comments from last week “highlight some significant concerns held by many of our parents.”
Among these, she said, are worries over information security, communication, and staff departures.
“We fear that highly qualified SPED staff are leaving us because they are unhappy,” Grijns said.
“Our parents are worried about the relationship between the SPED staff in our schools and the administration,” she said.
She said parents “felt left in the dark” about several situations this year as well, including the KHS suspensions, the Coleytown Middle School crisis, and the resignation of a longtime SPED staff member at Long Lots School.
“I think it is time for all of us as a school district to stop and reset after a very difficult year,” she said.
“Unfortunately so much of the talk surrounding the SPED concerns has been online and that is what has me most concerned,” said Sara Snow, KHS PTA co-president, noting both fact and speculation equally become matters of public record.
“If something is amiss … I urge you to look into it completely to uncover what must be uncovered, clear those who should be cleared, and fix any problems so we can move on, grow and heal,” she told the board.
In a joint statement, Carolyn Caney and Elena Caggiano, PTA council co-presidents, asked the BOE to investigate.
“We are very concerned about the issues they have raised,” they said, regarding the SPED Committee. “We hope you will take the concerns raised by the SPED PTA seriously and consider a full review of their claims.”
Following parent comments, BOE Chairman Mark Mathias read a statement noting his board’s silence following Kale’s allegations “so that our silence will not be mistaken for a lack of care, concern or responsiveness.”
He said that, per board policy, “the board will address complaints on their merits only when we receive a written appeal from the decision of the superintendent,” whose office is looking into the matter.
Mathias also said state and federal law limit what can be shared relating to specific students, making it difficult “and often impossible,” he said, “for the administration and the board to publicly share the outcome of investigations regarding school district employees where students are involved.”
“The administration has procedures in place to review allegations,” he said, “and decide what steps are in the best interests of students, while respecting employee rights.”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to clarify that Karen Ambrose’s remarks about filing with DCF concerned another family’s student, not hers.
