- Navigating a school system can be challenging
for any parent with a child who has special needs.
But for military families, that stress is compounded
by their lifestyle of repeated moves
and attending different schools
that offer varying levels of services.
In her second report focusing on military kids,
special correspondent Kavitha Cardoza
with our partner, Education Week,
reports from Virginia Beach, Virginia,
where a third of children in need
of special education services
can fall through the cracks.
It's part of our education series,
Making the Grade.
- Okay, see you, Sing.
- See you.
- All right, have a good day.
- [Kavitha] After years of military moves,
Navy Captain Cassidy Norman was posted
to Virginia Beach.
- Bye. - Bye, bye.
- [Kavitha] The Normans had lived here before
and their daughter loved her former school.
14-year-old Marissa has several disabilities,
including cerebral palsy, severe anxiety,
poor eyesight and hearing.
- Her disabilities are all compounded in the classroom.
It's difficult for her to listen, and learn,
and write all at the same time.
- [Kavitha] Marissa needs one-on-one help
and therapies but she has normal intelligence,
which means with patience and educational accommodations,
she can learn just like any of her classmates.
(airplane thundering)
Virginia Beach is surrounded by bases
and the economy is closely tied to the military.
It's schools have several programs
to support military kids but several service members
say the district is not meeting the needs
of their children with disabilities.
Eileen Huck with the National Military Family Association
says obtaining special education services
is a significant challenge for service members nationwide.
- So often I hear from families who have things set
at their previous location and then they had to move
and then they feel as though they're starting from scratch.
- [Kavitha] The military does consider
a child's medical and education needs during assignments.
- But there is less attention paid to
the special education services because
federal law says that all school districts
are required to provide a free and appropriate
public education.
- [Kavitha] All children with special needs
in every public school district are entitled
to an evaluation and individualized plan
detailing the supports they'll receive.
But when Marissa returned to Virginia Beach District
her parents noticed right away something was wrong.
- We weren't getting progress reports.
They kept taking away services and goals from her
and from her education plan.
- It was very frustrating.
- And at the same time they would give her
honor roll and student of the month every once in awhile
but all this time she was stagnating
and in some areas regressing.
- [Kavitha] Cassidy had to leave for training
and was then deployed to the Middle East.
Still he would call into meetings about Marissa,
which he said school officials often postponed
or canceled.
More than a year passed and nothing significant changed.
The Normans moved Marissa to a private school.
They also hired a lawyer.
- I was so depressed, I wasn't myself.
And I was crying all the time.
I had to go see a therapist.
And Cass was so worried about me
he had to send a base chaplain to come
come speak to me.
- During this case I was responsible
for the health and welfare of 3000 sailors
plus 2000 additional deployers on our ship.
And even though that was stressful,
it was more stressful for me to think about my daughter
who was not being taken care of by the public school here.
- [Kavitha] Aaron Spence is Superintendent of
Virginia Beach City Public Schools.
- Well, I want to be clear.
We actually do a great job with our
special education program in Virginia Beach.
On rare occasion we have some disagreements
and differences with our families.
Fortunately we have a great system for working through that.
- [Kavitha] Some military families here disagree.
Bryn Bennett, Adriana Rodriguez, and Sydney Jillson
all have children with special needs.
- A few weeks after my husband left for deployment
my son was having some sort of breakdown in the classroom.
They couldn't get him to calm down
and I got there and they had chairs kind of lined up.
It was almost like he was a caged animal.
- To watch the people that I know
are supposed to be on his side,
the ones that are supposed to be helping him
and to see them pushing his buttons
and upsetting him to such lengths was upsetting.
- They didn't listen to a word we had to say.
They didn't listen to a word his doctors had to say.
They didn't offer any supports.
- [Kavitha] The district would not comment
on any of the cases saying it would be
inappropriate because we remain in litigation
and due process with many of these families.
But in a written statement,
a spokesperson said the school district
is committed to providing the best learning environment
possible for all children.
We have nationally-recognized partnerships
with our local installations and are acknowledged
as a premiere provider of services
in the military community.
But in one complaint which included military families,
investigators found that Virginia Beach schools
were offering only the bare minimum in services,
which translated into a deficit education.
Advocate Eileen Huck says there are school districts
that just wait it out.
- It's unfortunate but I think it's sometimes true
that school districts will be hesitant to provide
a new service or a new resource to a family
that they know is going to be moving out of the district
in a year or two.
- We are not activities.
We are not looking for a fight.
We're looking for a good community.
- [Kavitha] It's rare for a family
to file a formal complaint and even more rare
for them to win.
But a Virginia Department of Education investigation
found the school district had not provided
the minimum education required by law for Marissa.
- [Coach] Hop it, hop it!
- [Kavitha] The school district appealed.
The Normans won again in federal court
and Virginia Beach was ordered to pay
for her private school.
- Ah, Marissa.
Oh, good job.
- [Kavitha] Marissa had to repeat a grade
in her new school but now she's doing well.
- She plays on the volleyball team.
- She's making friends.
She's learning.
- [Kavitha] Providing special education services
can be expensive for school districts.
But as the Normans say, it's federal law.
They say Virginia Beach schools
have already spent more than $300 thousand dollars
just on their case.
The Normans say they hear from many other
military families.
- And very few, if any, are able to afford a lawyer.
It's been depressing to see all the families
that can not fight the fight that we are fighting
and all of the families that have given up
or are afraid of retribution and will not speak out.
- Virginia Beach School District recently stopped
paying for Marissa's private school and
is appealing the verdict, which means
another long court case that Michelle
will have to deal with on her own
because Cassidy Norman has just received
transfer orders for a 15-month posting on a ship
based in Italy.
For the PBS News Hour and Education Week,
I'm Kavitha Cardoza in Virginia Beach, Virginia.
(bright piano music)
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