Source: Madison Metropolitan School District
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The governance council of Badger Rock Middle School says it is “swamped” with students with disabilities which has created a “burdensome situation” for students, staff and parents. In a Sept. 20 letter to Madison school district officials, obtained by Isthmus, the council wrote that 32 students — 35 percent of the total student body — have special educational needs. As a result, the council said, “teachers are unable to implement the project-based curriculum” at the small public charter school.
“Of the 32 students, 69 percent are in the behavior category (e.g., autism, emotional behavior disorder or other health issue),” wrote the council. “This is far higher than any other school in the Madison Metropolitan School District and almost twice the district average. . . . Our school structure and urban agriculture emphasis does not lend itself to such high number of [special needs students].”
The council requested that the district cease any further placement of students with disabilities at Badger Rock and asked for the autonomy to interview students and parents to determine whether the school is “a good option for their children.”
Superintendent Jennifer Cheatham pushed back firmly on the tone and substance of the requests.
“Words like ‘swamped’ and ‘burdensome’ make it sound like students with disabilities are unwanted at Badger Rock,” Cheatham wrote in an Oct. 13 letter to the Badger Rock governance council. “Even more, your letter makes it sounds as if the governing council would like to deny students with disabilities an education in the school simply because they have been identified as a student with a disability. Not only would such a limitation be an illegal act of discrimination, it is the antithesis of everything we stand for as a district and a direct violation of our Charter policy.”
The superintendent did, though, acknowledge that the percentage of students with disabilities at Badger Rock is “significantly higher than the district average.”
Jeff Spitzer-Resnick, an attorney who specializes in disability rights, says the kerfuffle between Badger Rock and the district may stem from the governance council’s lack of experience with the public school system.
“Charters tend to form because the people that form them have a particular image of what they want their school to be like. They often forget that they are still public schools,” says Spitzer-Resnick. “They have to comply with both state and federal laws that apply to public schools. Some things get exempted out because they are a charter school, but not civil rights laws and not the special education laws.”
Spitzer-Resnick says the popularity of Badger Rock for families with special needs students likely indicates that the school’s project-based curriculum is seen as an attractive alternative to a traditional public school.
“Parents talk. And if the reputation of Badger Rock was that they don’t serve kids with disabilities well, you would not see an increasing number of families apply to have their kids go to school there,” Spitzer-Resnick says.
Badger Rock Middle School is one of two public charter schools in Madison and the smallest school in the district. Unlike a traditional public school, charter schools are created by a contract between a governance council and a sponsoring school board. While funded by a district, charter schools are given “freedom from most state rules and regulations in exchange for greater accountability for results,” according to the Department of Public Instruction.
Badger Rock was founded in 2011. Focused on project-based learning and environmental sustainability, the school hosts a state-of-the-art greenhouse and an industrial kitchen, both of which serve as “hands-on” classrooms.
The school’s high percentage of students with special needs is nothing new. Since its first year as a public charter school, at least 23 percent of its student body have been kids with disabilities. In the 2016 school year, the percentage was 28 percent. That climbed to over a third of the student body this semester. Alex Fralin, chief of schools for secondary education, says the school has not reached its enrollment capacity.
Peng Her, co-chair of the Badger Rock governance council, says the council’s letter was meant to inform the district of the high percentage of students with disabilities and the impact that has on the school.
“We just wanted to make sure the district was aware of that,” Her says. “Because in a couple of years we will have to go up for renewal again and we don’t want to be dinged for having low scores.”
The Madison school board renewed Badger Rock’s charter for another three years in December 2016 despite scrutiny over it being placed in the “fails to meet expectations” category, the lowest score for state-issued report cards. Her says the council also sent the letter to see “what additional resources” could be provided to the school given the high percentage of students with disabilities.
“It did catch us a bit off guard. . . . Kids are spending a lot of time learning with hands-on projects and learning outdoors. Whether it’s in the gardens, in the kitchen cooking or on field trips. So we want to make sure that students [with disabilities] are also given that rich experience,” says Her. “We think it may warrant some specialists to help the current staff.”
John Harper, executive director of student services, says the district is well aware of the situation at Badger Rock. In response, he says, the district this fall increased the number of full-time special education teachers to three at Badger Rock, in addition to a full-time special education assistant.
“I would say the resources at [Badger Rock] aren’t the same as any other school, they are actually higher. I think that the governance council needs to revisit their stance on whether things are okay or not,” Harper says. “The fact is, these are their students. It’s critical that Badger Rock embrace the opportunity they have there.”
Harper adds that the district “feels like we have a very comprehensive plan and support network to assist [Badger Rock] to ensure that every student, including those with disabilities, have a high quality experience.
“If anything, we have resourced [Badger Rock] a little heavier than any other middle school,” Harper says. “When we look at the student-to-staff ratio, it is by far the lowest of any of our middle schools.”
School board member Nicki Vander Meulen says there is “still a lack of understanding” from Badger Rock officials. However, she says the governance council is now aware that embracing students with special needs “isn’t a choice.”
“My concern — not just as a school board member but as an individual who is autistic — is that [the Badger Rock governance council] thought that we are dumping people on them. That these are unwanted students,” says Vander Meulen, a juvenile defense attorney. “I think they understand now that the word ‘burden’ should never be used in special education. It should never be used to describe any student. Period.”Peng Her says the governance council’s goal remains focused on the needs of students. “We had to tweak our curriculum a bit to make sure all the kids are able to learn in the way we teach here,” says Her. “Whether the district thinks the tone of the letter was too harsh . . . I think we were pretty clear in expressing the current enrollment challenges and desire to work with the district to make sure the needs of our students are being met.”