Judge Visits Ravenswood School District

By Sharon Noguchi, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

May 5–For the first time in the 10 years he has overseen special education in the Ravenswood City School District, Judge Thelton Henderson visited district classes Thursday.

"I liked what I saw," the federal judge said as he concluded his tour at Belle Haven School.

Five years ago, Henderson held the district in contempt for dragging its feet over special education reforms. On Thursday, he was all smiles, despite his own court monitor’s latest report that the district still has not complied with nearly half of the remaining requirements imposed in a 2003 legal settlement.

That settlement resulted from a class-action lawsuit district parents filed in 1996 that claimed Ravenswood students with learning disabilities were not receiving an appropriate education, as guaranteed them by federal law.

While the judge has signed off on some of the settlement terms, court reports indicate that the more substantial orders remain unmet. In his most recent quarterly report, issued in March, court monitor Mark Mlawer wrote, "Special education service delivery continues to be a major concern."

In a sampling of student records, Mlawer could document that only 15 percent of students with disabilities were receiving proper educational services. "These findings are very distressing," Mlawer wrote.

Henderson refused to discuss his observations Thursday, citing his policy of not commenting on pending cases. His office said he was touring simply because he had never visited the district.

Ravenswood’s attorney, John D. Nibbelin, said the judge seemed pleased with the teaching and learning he saw. Nibbelin and representatives of the plaintiffs and the state accompanied Henderson.

"We’re excited to have him here and be able to demonstrate the excellent work teachers have been doing," said Interim Superintendent Maria Meza-De La Vega. She said the judge wanted to see a model program designed to integrate special-education students into regular classrooms.

Special education students are those diagnosed with disabilities ranging from mental retardation to autism to speech or language impairment. Ravenswood has designated 395 special education students — about 10 percent of students in its 12 schools, including its four charter schools.

Despite the court monitor’s harsh review, things in Ravenswood are looking up, several attorneys involved with the long-running lawsuit said.

"It took a long time for us to get into a place where the district is seriously trying to implement reforms," said Stanford law Professor Bill Koski, an attorney for the parents who filed the suit.

Still, he added, "There’s much work to be done."

The district struggles with record-keeping, filing, training and providing appropriate education, according to the monitor’s report.

Other problems are tied to high staff turnover. For a while, more than 50 percent of teaching staff left the struggling district each year, meaning that training had to be repeated with every new crop of teachers. That turnover rate has dropped dramatically, thanks in part to consultants the district brought in to help address teacher concerns.

Koski credited a new school board and administration for much of the improvement.

In 2002, voters installed three critics of longtime Superintendent Charlie Mae Knight, who had spent years and millions of dollars fighting the special ed lawsuit. The new board promptly got rid of Knight, although the district has undergone several changes in leadership since then.

The California Department of Education, a co-defendant in the suit, has assigned a full-time consultant to help Ravenswood with its special education program. Department attorney Gabriel Vivas said the consultant "has found present Ravenswood administration and staff to be very cooperative and be very willing to work and listen to her — which is in sharp contract to what we’ve faced in the past."

According to district figures, Ravenswood spends about $7.5 million annually on special education, including $2.6 million for measures related to the lawsuit. Of that $2.6 million, the state pays an annually decreasing proportion Henderson sets.

Ravenswood is not alone in taking years to comply with special-education orders. Both Baltimore and Los Angeles have spent years trying to comply with court settlements concerning special education.

"School reform takes a long time," said Koski, the Stanford lawyer. "Three years in school reform isn’t a long time."

Contact Sharon Noguchi at snoguchi@mercurynews.com or (650) 688-7576.

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Copyright (c) 2006, San Jose Mercury News, Calif.

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