Letter to the editor: Particular schooling in NSD faculties | Letters to the Editor
According to OSPI, enrollment in the Northshore School District decreased 2.4% in the 2020-21 school year from 2019-20. The enrollment of students in special education decreased much more: 11.8%.
I know parents who withdrew their children from special education because they were tired of arguing with the county about placement in a distance learning setting that they knew was inappropriate for their children’s learning needs.
Watching other counties like Lake Washington welcome their special needs students back into the classroom last fall, they wondered, “Why can’t Northshore support my child like this?” Others, like me, had struggled for years for appropriate services and simply gave up and left completely.
While enrollments in special schools fell like a stone in 2020-21, enrollments in Highly Capable programs skyrocketed with a 10.1% increase. Why is Northshore so better able to identify and address the needs of its most advanced learners while children with learning disabilities are lagging behind or falling out?
Northshore families with special educational needs have long watched the district sponsor and celebrate programs like EAP, IB, AP, and Innovation Labs as it segregates, isolates, restricts, or simply ignores special education students – learning difficulties are treated like something to be done for must be ashamed.
This is not just. It’s not fair. Northshore can and must do better. According to Dr. Reid at the board meeting on August 23, enrollment has recovered again this year. It will be interesting to see if this also applies to students in special education.
