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Porter County parent fights for equal access to public education for child with special needs

Times - 6/23/2021

Jun. 23—VALPARAISO — A Porter County parent is fighting for equal access to public education for her child with special needs.

Victoria Schwarten filed due process against Porter County Education Services and Valparaiso Community Schools in April because of an individual education plan (IEP) designed in 2019 for her now 8-year-old daughter that she felt wasn't medically safe. Her case is set to go before a hearing officer June 28 and is expected to last three days. It will be open to the public.

According to its website, PCES serves about 5,000 students across 55 schools. It provides special education services to all school districts in Porter County, including Duneland School Corp., East Porter County School Corp., MSD of Boone Township, Portage Township Schools, Porter Township School Corp., Union Township School Corp. and Valparaiso Community Schools.

PCES did not respond to a request for comment.

Attorney Catherine Michael from Connell Michael Kerr LLP, the law firm representing Schwarten, said laws were passed in the 1970s — known as Article 7 — entitling children with special needs to a free, appropriate public education that is specially designed to their needs. Despite any additional needs a child may have, the education should still be ambitious, include challenging goals and serve them across areas, such as a reading plan for a child with dyslexia or counseling services.

This is usually achieved by creating an IEP that outlines any adaptations or specific goals for the child. Michael said the only enforcers of Article 7 are parents and families. The Department of Education or any other entity isn't responsible for checking in on each student's IEP, so Michael said an administrative system was put in place so that parents can challenge an IEP by filing due process.

Schwarten first tried to get her daughter services from PCES in 2016 and again in 2019. In both instances, Schwarten said she felt the IEPs it offered were not medically safe for her daughter.

Schwarten's daughter was born premature and has multiple respiratory health issues. In addition to asthma, her daughter has bronchopulmonary dysplasia and tracheal dysplasia. With those conditions, Schwarten said her daughter needs close monitoring because, for example, unlike an adult, she can't always tell when an asthma attack is starting. It also can create swallowing issues for her.

Based on where they live in the county, Schwarten's daughter would go to Valparaiso Community Schools. But she said PCES told her that her daughter could only have a nurse with her if she went to the Special Education Learning Facility, SELF.

SELF has elementary, middle and high school classrooms and offers additional services like occupational and physical therapy, for the students who need it, the website states. It also offers preschool services.

Although PCES would allow for a nurse to accompany Schwarten's daughter at SELF, Schwarten wanted her daughter to be able to attend the elementary school at Valparaiso Community Schools she would traditionally attend. Because of that, her case alleges PCES violated her daughter's right to a free public education.

She feels she shouldn't have to choose between her daughter's physical health needs and her other social and emotional needs that may not be meet by going to a facility that is more isolated from other children.

When it comes to special education, Michael said, children should be in the least restrictive environment. Just because a child has a medical condition, they shouldn't be put in a different school or classroom, she said.

"It starts to become pretty discriminatory," she said. "It's not something we would allow in other areas of life."

There are situations where a child may need to be in a different environment or taken out of a traditional classroom to receive more individualized instruction as part of a "good and appropriate education," but she said children shouldn't be placed in a different building just because they have a medical condition.

Schwarten decided not to send her daughter to public school and home-schooled her for a year before enrolling her in a private school. After learning that the state's special education laws might make the public school responsible for some or all of the cost of private school, Schwarten decided to file due process.

Michael said parents can seek reimbursement for private services, if the school isn't providing them for the student.

Even after she filed, Schwarten tried to send her daughter to public school a few times, but she said the school still denied access for her daughter's nurse to accompany her to her home school at VCS.

VCS did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Michael said Schwarten came to her firm after trying to go through this process without an attorney. But in this part of Indiana, Michael said these cases can turn into "an utter and absolute battle."

Schwarten is also part of a group of parents in Porter County who organized a Facebook group called "Parents for PCES Reform" because they feel their children with special needs have not been given equal access to public education. Others have spoken up and even filed their own due process, but others are worried about potential retaliation against their children.

The group was created at the beginning of May and, so far, has just over 20 members. According to its description, it's for the parents of special needs children in Porter County who have or are currently dealing with PCES.

Schwarten's hearing at the end of the month will take place at SELF at 750 Ransom Road in Valparaiso.

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