Jordan District ignores special needs of children

On Aug. 25, Utah's Jordan School District Board of Education met in a closed session to review appeals of parents who requested that their children attend the new Kauri Sue Hamilton School in Riverton. This newly built school is designed for the education of students with severe multiple disabilities.

In 2007, the east side residents of the Jordan School District area voted to secede from the largest school district in the state and create what is now the Canyons School District. At the time of the decision to split the districts, Jordan Valley School, located in Midvale, was the only self-contained school in the Jordan District that served this population of students.

Both the Kauri Sue Hamilton School and Jordan Valley School were originally planned to be part of the Jordan School District. After the split, many of the teachers that taught at Jordan Valley accepted positions at the new Kauri Sue Hamilton School.

On June 1, my wife and I received a letter from the principal of the Kauri Sue Hamilton School informing us that our child, who is affected with severe autism, would be attending starting this fall. This would allow him to remain with his entire educational team, who had transferred from Jordan Valley School. We were very excited to learn that our son, who had been with this staff for the last two years, would avoid any major transition.

In mid-June, we learned that our son would not receive placement at the new school. We then appealed this decision, asking the Jordan School District Board to allow our son to attend Kauri Sue Hamilton School so he may continue working with his current educational team. Utah maintains an open enrollment policy for all other schools in the state.

On Aug. 24, a representative from Jordan District notified us that our son's appeal, along with other student placement appeals, would be reviewed in a closed session the next day. He specified that the meeting was closed to the public. We later learned, through a public notice on the district's Web site, that following the closed meeting, the public was invited to attend. We made sure we were in attendance to learn the fate of our son's educational future.

After the short one-hour closed session, we were allowed to witness the verdict. Peggy Jo Kennett, president of the Jordan Board of Education, announced the vote to uphold the administration's decision prohibiting the enrollment of nonresident students. Ms. Kennett cited that services of the two schools were "identical." This couldn't be further from the truth.