More Press Releases That Are Inaccurate
Once again, the district never acknowledged that this press release was inaccurate. They did, however, remove it from the website.
Missouri education officials select Lee's Summit R-7 School District to present program on autism education at state-wide conference Selection based on district's exemplary services for special-needs students
This is not only wrong, it is immoral to let people believe that Lee's Summit is doing anything but a poor job with our children. I can give you the names of numerous families that will testify to this. Many have already sent letters to Heidi Atkins-Lieberman about this.
The Lee's Summit R-7 School District was recently selected to present information on the district's services for students with autism at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Annual Cooperative Conference for School Administrators, scheduled for early August. Just two districts in the state were chosen for this presentation, and selection was based on the district's outstanding programs for students with autism, according to state officials. (Who made these decisions? Lee's Summit has had quite a few due process cases and child complaints filed because of the lack of services that they offer children with autism)
Lee's Summit R-7 and Kirkwood School District officials will share their exemplary practices in the area of autism education at the conference, which is attended by superintendents and other school district leaders from across the state. The presentation is designed to showcase these two outstanding programs and to help other districts better serve their students with autism spectrum disorders, a growing population regionally and throughout the nation. (The families in Lee's Summit would like to see these wonderful programs implemented. They look good on paper, but they are not put into practice.)
Among the 17 Missouri school districts with enrollments of more than 10,000 students, the Kirkwood and Lee's Summit R-7 School Districts rank first and second statewide when comparing Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test scores among special-education students in both communication arts and math. (Lee's Summit didn't do well on the MAP test scores according to DESE and the district. "Although repeatedly recognized for our students' outstanding scores on the Missouri Assessment Program tests, our district has still been placed in the "District Improvement Level 1" category based on the scores of a very small number of students in two sub-groups. These students were in the sub-groups of special-education students and "English language learners" (students who do not speak English as their first language). Although we do single out these two sub-groups as part of this explanation, I want to make it clear that we are proud of these students and their efforts and believe that they did their best on the state-wide tests, demonstrating improvement in a comparison of 2006 and 2007 test scores.")
The R-7 School District currently serves approximately 250 children who have an autism spectrum disorder. The district is recognized for both its excellent special-education programs as well as the comprehensive training it offers for staff members. (They only serve 83-88 students with educational autism. Out of the 250 that have a diagnosis of ASD the district will only give 83-88 and educational diagnosis.)
For the past 10 years, the R-7 School District has offered training in the area of autism for staff and parents. "Working with Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Educational Environment" began as a two-day workshop but has grown to be an intensive 4-day training. Approximately 125 educators and parents attend this intensive session each year, including a number of attendees from other districts and other regions. The program has been recognized by districts throughout the state and has drawn participants from as far away as Illinois.
In addition to the popular four-day workshop, the R-7 School District offers workshops on functional communication, applied behavior analysis, and other topics related to the field of autism. The purpose of these workshops is to provide staff and parents with quality training on a variety of issues facing those working with children with autism spectrum disorders. (According to Jerry Keimig, regular education teachers and paras will only receive this training if they do it on their own time. The district will not pay them to attend this workshop. Many children with autism are in regular education classes with teachers that have no training in their disability. )
Just as important as the intensive workshops are follow-up training and assistance provided for R-7 staff members by the district's four coordinators focusing on autism and behavior disorders. These coordinators help conduct assessments, design programming and work with teachers and families on each child's individualized education plan. They also work with R-7 staff members to help educators effectively use materials and equipment, including specialized technological equipment designed to help children with autism in the areas of instruction and communication. (These four individuals are not full time employees and according to Stacey Martin, she has to attend to all of the children in Lee's Summit with an educational diagnosis of autism.)
This team of R-7 specialists also helps coordinate and oversee two very unique programs in the Lees Summit District. STARS (Structured Teaching to Acquire Readiness Skills) is an early childhood program designed to meet the needs of children, ages 3 to 5, who present challenges in early learning behaviors. Lee's Summit R-7 is one of only a few districts in Missouri to offer this exemplary type of programming. STARS began during the 2006-07 school year and provides very intensive services, including a one-on-one aide for each child. (The district will not provide families with any information about this program. Repeated requests have been met with denials of information.)
STARS was so successful during its first year that the R-7 School District implemented PASS (Promoting Academic and Social Success), a similar program for kindergarten students enrolled at Longview Farm Elementary. Both programs have generated interest among other school districts throughout the region. (One student that was in the STARS program regressed so much that the parent had to remove him and send him to a private school in Kansas. Another family had to remove all five of their children because of psychological damage that was done to their children. Still another family had to remove their child from PE because Jerry Keimig refused them the alternative of adaptive PE without any basis. When the family found out that the teacher was the adaptive PE teacher and met with him, he told the family that he knew more about this child than any "Autism specialist, any psychologist, or the mother. He went on to say that he would push this autistic child socially, emotionally, and physically beyond his comfort level. When the administration was notified of this they stated that the family would have to get a note from their physician before the child would be taken out of PE. The family's psychologist quickly complied as to avoid further damage to this child.)
Missouri school officials consider the Lee's Summit district to be among the state's best for autism education.
At the fore of its program is Jerry Keimig, the district's 55-year-old director of special education. He's had the job for eight years. Before that, he spent six years employed at a Kansas psychiatric hospital and nine as director of special services for the Grandview School District.
The number of autistic children in Keimig's district is small but growing.
Stacy Martin, who was appointed the district's first autism education specialist in the early 1990s, says that when she started at Lee's Summit 32 years ago as a special-education teacher, only a few students qualified as autistic.
Today, out of the 17,000 students who attend Lee's Summit's 17 elementary schools, three middle schools and five high schools, 98 kids meet the educational definition of autism ("A developmental disability which may occur concurrently with other disabilities ... behaviorally defined to include disturbances in four areas: developmental rates or sequences; responses to sensory stimuli; speech, language cognitive capacities, nonverbal communication; and capacities to relate to people, events, objects, and which adversely affect educational performance," according to the Missouri Autism Resource Guide by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Missouri Department of Mental Health). More than 250 other students fall somewhere on the autism spectrum, with a variety of psychological conditions characterized by abnormal social interaction or communication.
The district doesn't have specific classes for children with autism because the symptoms differ from one student to the next. General special-education classes range from groups of 10 students to a one-on-one, teacher-student setting, though many special-needs students are in regular classrooms.
"As a subpopulation, autism is growing pretty fast. I hear all the time from parents who move here because of our special-education programs," Keimig tells The Pitch. "I think you'd certainly find people who believe it's not all it's cracked up to be, but lots of people here are very, very pleased."
Keimig has a laugh that comes suddenly and loudly, like a burst of machine-gun fire. His detractors tend to compare him to a used-car salesman.
His supporters want him to teach all Missouri administrators how to deal with their autistic students.
As proof of his program's success, Keimig cites two examples: special-ed students' high test scores on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test, administered by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the district's program for training teachers on how to educate special-needs students.
The district's special-needs students performed well on reading comprehension exams in the last round of MAP tests in August 2007. Overall, however, their scores fell far short of the "Adequate Yearly Progress" goals set by the No Child Left Behind Act. (The same was true for students for whom English was a second language.) As a result, the entire district was given a failing grade.
District Superintendent David McGehee made sure that parents knew which students were at fault. "The scores of students in these two subgroups are the sole reason our district was designated in this category," he wrote in an August 17, 2007, letter to district parents.
Keimig touts Lee's Summit's teacher training program: two four-day sessions a year to refresh teachers on recognizing autistic behaviors and dealing with autistic students. But these sessions aren't mandatory, and there are no special incentives for teachers to attend. Of the district's 1,264 teachers, fewer than 80 attended the most recent sessions; half of those who did, Stacy Martin says, came from schools outside the Lee's Summit district.
But, Martin adds, teachers from neighboring states and school districts often pay $1,400 per person to attend the Lee's Summit training sessions. And Lee's Summit is so well-respected within the Missouri education system that Heidi Atkins Lieberman, commissioner of special education for the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, has invited Keimig to speak at a conference of state administrators in August. He's scheduled to present a special session for superintendents on effective teaching methods for autistic students.
The Missouri Department of Education does not keep records detailing the progress of autistic students. Instead, it tracks the performance of special-education students as a whole.
In choosing Keimig to lead the special session in August, Lieberman says, she relied on informed friends. "I asked people who were very knowledgeable about autism education, and they all said Jerry would be great," Lieberman says. "I don't think I'm really at liberty to identify anyone I talked to."
The announcement of Keimig's special session infuriated some members of the Lee's Summit Autism Support Group, a collection of parents that includes Joyce Lindsey.
"If he's going to be there, we are picketing that conference," Lindsey says. "There's no way that he should be in that position."
In Missouri, if a parent decides that a school district isn't meeting its obligations, the parent has several options for complaining to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The most common method is filing a "due process" lawsuit against the school, which is then moderated by hearing officers assigned by DESE. That's costly for parents of special-ed students, who are already spending extra money on therapies and doctors. And the lawsuits are almost impossible to win, says one Kansas City lawyer who has a history of dealing with such suits.
"I don't even want to take them anymore because it's so hard to get anywhere," Kim Westhusing says. "The challenge is, you have to determine whether the child is receiving what the state refers to as 'free and appropriate education.' And the standard, as written, is 'Did the child receive some educational benefits?' OK, now what does that mean? What an educational benefit is depends on who you talk to. A student could go through a whole year of school, only learns to tie his shoes, and they could say that's an educational benefit. You almost have to show that their program has harmed a child."
DESE regulations for due process specify that a case be chaired by three hearing officers — one chosen by the school, one by the parent and one assigned by DESE. The regulations mandate that the hearing officers be chosen from a list of approximately 70 officers designated by DESE. Almost everyone on that list is a school administrator, a teacher or a lawyer retained by a Missouri school district.
Only two have backgrounds as advocates for special-needs children.
"When my hearing chair is a school district attorney, the school's representative is a school administrator, and the one I get is a parent advocate — and on the whole list, only two are parent advocates — what chance do I have?" Shaumeyer says. "The odds were stacked against me, and I was out of money, so we ended up settling."
According to Wanda Allen, a secretary with the DESE's Division of Special Education, the people listed as hearing officers are qualified people who apply to DESE for the position every 18 months. But it's been years since anyone new was considered for the positions. "Last year, we just updated the list of people we already had," Allen says.
The Division of Special Education does not track statistics comparing how many due-process complaints are filed against a particular school or district or the results of those complaints.
Keimig's name is on the list of hearing officers. He believes that DESE has set up a fair system. "The thing I like about the formalized complaint process is that you have people looking at it who are not tied up in the emotional aspect, because obviously the parents feel strongly about it, as they should," he says.
Missouri education officials select Lee's Summit R-7 School District to present program on autism education at state-wide conference Selection based on district's exemplary services for special-needs students
This is not only wrong, it is immoral to let people believe that Lee's Summit is doing anything but a poor job with our children. I can give you the names of numerous families that will testify to this. Many have already sent letters to Heidi Atkins-Lieberman about this.
The Lee's Summit R-7 School District was recently selected to present information on the district's services for students with autism at the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education's Annual Cooperative Conference for School Administrators, scheduled for early August. Just two districts in the state were chosen for this presentation, and selection was based on the district's outstanding programs for students with autism, according to state officials. (Who made these decisions? Lee's Summit has had quite a few due process cases and child complaints filed because of the lack of services that they offer children with autism)
Lee's Summit R-7 and Kirkwood School District officials will share their exemplary practices in the area of autism education at the conference, which is attended by superintendents and other school district leaders from across the state. The presentation is designed to showcase these two outstanding programs and to help other districts better serve their students with autism spectrum disorders, a growing population regionally and throughout the nation. (The families in Lee's Summit would like to see these wonderful programs implemented. They look good on paper, but they are not put into practice.)
Among the 17 Missouri school districts with enrollments of more than 10,000 students, the Kirkwood and Lee's Summit R-7 School Districts rank first and second statewide when comparing Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test scores among special-education students in both communication arts and math. (Lee's Summit didn't do well on the MAP test scores according to DESE and the district. "Although repeatedly recognized for our students' outstanding scores on the Missouri Assessment Program tests, our district has still been placed in the "District Improvement Level 1" category based on the scores of a very small number of students in two sub-groups. These students were in the sub-groups of special-education students and "English language learners" (students who do not speak English as their first language). Although we do single out these two sub-groups as part of this explanation, I want to make it clear that we are proud of these students and their efforts and believe that they did their best on the state-wide tests, demonstrating improvement in a comparison of 2006 and 2007 test scores.")
The R-7 School District currently serves approximately 250 children who have an autism spectrum disorder. The district is recognized for both its excellent special-education programs as well as the comprehensive training it offers for staff members. (They only serve 83-88 students with educational autism. Out of the 250 that have a diagnosis of ASD the district will only give 83-88 and educational diagnosis.)
For the past 10 years, the R-7 School District has offered training in the area of autism for staff and parents. "Working with Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders in the Educational Environment" began as a two-day workshop but has grown to be an intensive 4-day training. Approximately 125 educators and parents attend this intensive session each year, including a number of attendees from other districts and other regions. The program has been recognized by districts throughout the state and has drawn participants from as far away as Illinois.
In addition to the popular four-day workshop, the R-7 School District offers workshops on functional communication, applied behavior analysis, and other topics related to the field of autism. The purpose of these workshops is to provide staff and parents with quality training on a variety of issues facing those working with children with autism spectrum disorders. (According to Jerry Keimig, regular education teachers and paras will only receive this training if they do it on their own time. The district will not pay them to attend this workshop. Many children with autism are in regular education classes with teachers that have no training in their disability. )
Just as important as the intensive workshops are follow-up training and assistance provided for R-7 staff members by the district's four coordinators focusing on autism and behavior disorders. These coordinators help conduct assessments, design programming and work with teachers and families on each child's individualized education plan. They also work with R-7 staff members to help educators effectively use materials and equipment, including specialized technological equipment designed to help children with autism in the areas of instruction and communication. (These four individuals are not full time employees and according to Stacey Martin, she has to attend to all of the children in Lee's Summit with an educational diagnosis of autism.)
This team of R-7 specialists also helps coordinate and oversee two very unique programs in the Lees Summit District. STARS (Structured Teaching to Acquire Readiness Skills) is an early childhood program designed to meet the needs of children, ages 3 to 5, who present challenges in early learning behaviors. Lee's Summit R-7 is one of only a few districts in Missouri to offer this exemplary type of programming. STARS began during the 2006-07 school year and provides very intensive services, including a one-on-one aide for each child. (The district will not provide families with any information about this program. Repeated requests have been met with denials of information.)
STARS was so successful during its first year that the R-7 School District implemented PASS (Promoting Academic and Social Success), a similar program for kindergarten students enrolled at Longview Farm Elementary. Both programs have generated interest among other school districts throughout the region. (One student that was in the STARS program regressed so much that the parent had to remove him and send him to a private school in Kansas. Another family had to remove all five of their children because of psychological damage that was done to their children. Still another family had to remove their child from PE because Jerry Keimig refused them the alternative of adaptive PE without any basis. When the family found out that the teacher was the adaptive PE teacher and met with him, he told the family that he knew more about this child than any "Autism specialist, any psychologist, or the mother. He went on to say that he would push this autistic child socially, emotionally, and physically beyond his comfort level. When the administration was notified of this they stated that the family would have to get a note from their physician before the child would be taken out of PE. The family's psychologist quickly complied as to avoid further damage to this child.)
Missouri school officials consider the Lee's Summit district to be among the state's best for autism education.
At the fore of its program is Jerry Keimig, the district's 55-year-old director of special education. He's had the job for eight years. Before that, he spent six years employed at a Kansas psychiatric hospital and nine as director of special services for the Grandview School District.
The number of autistic children in Keimig's district is small but growing.
Stacy Martin, who was appointed the district's first autism education specialist in the early 1990s, says that when she started at Lee's Summit 32 years ago as a special-education teacher, only a few students qualified as autistic.
Today, out of the 17,000 students who attend Lee's Summit's 17 elementary schools, three middle schools and five high schools, 98 kids meet the educational definition of autism ("A developmental disability which may occur concurrently with other disabilities ... behaviorally defined to include disturbances in four areas: developmental rates or sequences; responses to sensory stimuli; speech, language cognitive capacities, nonverbal communication; and capacities to relate to people, events, objects, and which adversely affect educational performance," according to the Missouri Autism Resource Guide by the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and the Missouri Department of Mental Health). More than 250 other students fall somewhere on the autism spectrum, with a variety of psychological conditions characterized by abnormal social interaction or communication.
The district doesn't have specific classes for children with autism because the symptoms differ from one student to the next. General special-education classes range from groups of 10 students to a one-on-one, teacher-student setting, though many special-needs students are in regular classrooms.
"As a subpopulation, autism is growing pretty fast. I hear all the time from parents who move here because of our special-education programs," Keimig tells The Pitch. "I think you'd certainly find people who believe it's not all it's cracked up to be, but lots of people here are very, very pleased."
Keimig has a laugh that comes suddenly and loudly, like a burst of machine-gun fire. His detractors tend to compare him to a used-car salesman.
His supporters want him to teach all Missouri administrators how to deal with their autistic students.
As proof of his program's success, Keimig cites two examples: special-ed students' high test scores on the Missouri Assessment Program (MAP) test, administered by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and the district's program for training teachers on how to educate special-needs students.
The district's special-needs students performed well on reading comprehension exams in the last round of MAP tests in August 2007. Overall, however, their scores fell far short of the "Adequate Yearly Progress" goals set by the No Child Left Behind Act. (The same was true for students for whom English was a second language.) As a result, the entire district was given a failing grade.
District Superintendent David McGehee made sure that parents knew which students were at fault. "The scores of students in these two subgroups are the sole reason our district was designated in this category," he wrote in an August 17, 2007, letter to district parents.
Keimig touts Lee's Summit's teacher training program: two four-day sessions a year to refresh teachers on recognizing autistic behaviors and dealing with autistic students. But these sessions aren't mandatory, and there are no special incentives for teachers to attend. Of the district's 1,264 teachers, fewer than 80 attended the most recent sessions; half of those who did, Stacy Martin says, came from schools outside the Lee's Summit district.
But, Martin adds, teachers from neighboring states and school districts often pay $1,400 per person to attend the Lee's Summit training sessions. And Lee's Summit is so well-respected within the Missouri education system that Heidi Atkins Lieberman, commissioner of special education for the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, has invited Keimig to speak at a conference of state administrators in August. He's scheduled to present a special session for superintendents on effective teaching methods for autistic students.
The Missouri Department of Education does not keep records detailing the progress of autistic students. Instead, it tracks the performance of special-education students as a whole.
In choosing Keimig to lead the special session in August, Lieberman says, she relied on informed friends. "I asked people who were very knowledgeable about autism education, and they all said Jerry would be great," Lieberman says. "I don't think I'm really at liberty to identify anyone I talked to."
The announcement of Keimig's special session infuriated some members of the Lee's Summit Autism Support Group, a collection of parents that includes Joyce Lindsey.
"If he's going to be there, we are picketing that conference," Lindsey says. "There's no way that he should be in that position."
In Missouri, if a parent decides that a school district isn't meeting its obligations, the parent has several options for complaining to the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. The most common method is filing a "due process" lawsuit against the school, which is then moderated by hearing officers assigned by DESE. That's costly for parents of special-ed students, who are already spending extra money on therapies and doctors. And the lawsuits are almost impossible to win, says one Kansas City lawyer who has a history of dealing with such suits.
"I don't even want to take them anymore because it's so hard to get anywhere," Kim Westhusing says. "The challenge is, you have to determine whether the child is receiving what the state refers to as 'free and appropriate education.' And the standard, as written, is 'Did the child receive some educational benefits?' OK, now what does that mean? What an educational benefit is depends on who you talk to. A student could go through a whole year of school, only learns to tie his shoes, and they could say that's an educational benefit. You almost have to show that their program has harmed a child."
DESE regulations for due process specify that a case be chaired by three hearing officers — one chosen by the school, one by the parent and one assigned by DESE. The regulations mandate that the hearing officers be chosen from a list of approximately 70 officers designated by DESE. Almost everyone on that list is a school administrator, a teacher or a lawyer retained by a Missouri school district.
Only two have backgrounds as advocates for special-needs children.
"When my hearing chair is a school district attorney, the school's representative is a school administrator, and the one I get is a parent advocate — and on the whole list, only two are parent advocates — what chance do I have?" Shaumeyer says. "The odds were stacked against me, and I was out of money, so we ended up settling."
According to Wanda Allen, a secretary with the DESE's Division of Special Education, the people listed as hearing officers are qualified people who apply to DESE for the position every 18 months. But it's been years since anyone new was considered for the positions. "Last year, we just updated the list of people we already had," Allen says.
The Division of Special Education does not track statistics comparing how many due-process complaints are filed against a particular school or district or the results of those complaints.
Keimig's name is on the list of hearing officers. He believes that DESE has set up a fair system. "The thing I like about the formalized complaint process is that you have people looking at it who are not tied up in the emotional aspect, because obviously the parents feel strongly about it, as they should," he says.
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