PLYMOUTH, Wis. — A group of Plymouth moms says they do not understand why their students with special needs cannot go to summer school in the district this year.
"It is very hard for us to grasp how they could do this to our kids,” said Jamie Schneider whose daughter Maggie has Down Syndrome.
“This is not okay,” said Tiffany Mallmann, whose son Austin has a rare genetic disorder.
The Plymouth School District confirms it is not providing aides for summer school for special needs children this year unless they meet certain requirements. We asked to speak to the superintendent on-camera about this but instead, the district offered this statement:
"Students with special needs who are attending Summer School must be able to attend their assigned classes independently or with minimal support. Some accommodations can be made on a case-by-case basis, and there are students with disabilities who will be attending our Summer School. However, excessive adaptations are too much for the Summer School program to handle, based on the available staff."
When it comes to summer school, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) says that falls under the Extended School Year (ESY) requirement. That means it is up to each school district's Individualized Education Plan (IEP) team to decide if a student needs to attend summer school. If that student does not have it written in their IEP, the district is not required to provide summer school.
Schneider says her daughter has gone to summer school for four years in Plymouth.
"She does not have summer school listed in her IEP so that is part of the issue. But she never had it in her IEP for all the years,” said Schneider.
It is a similar case for both Mallmann and Krystina Jankus’s children. Even though they have never had it in their children's IEP, each parent says their child has been in summer school every summer with an aide except during 2020.
"She will start the year now being behind even more now and will have to fight her way to try to catch up again,” said Schneider.
"Every child should be, regardless of their disabilities, should be welcome in the summer school program,” said Mallmann.
"It is not fair, to me it's like a discrimination. What's the difference between my child and your child? Really it is not much, she is the same exact thing. She just is slower on learning,” said Jankus.
DPI says if a parent disagrees with a school district's decision when it comes to summer school for a child with special needs, they can file a complaint with DPI here. DPI investigates all complaints and would then render a decision in 60 days.
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