Emotions run high as Kenilworth parents confront School Board about special-education program

In an often raucous and tear-filled meeting Monday, Kenilworth District 38 School Board members agreed to seek an independent consultant for a review of the district’s special-education program.

They authorized Superintendent Kate Donegan to search for a consultant, whose name could come to the board for hiring at its April meeting. Still to be decided: the scope of the review and the length of time to complete it; though, Donegan suggested it might be a matter of five or six business days. 

In a followup response on Tuesday, Donegan said the scope of the review would be set by the board and administration, with feedback from parents, in conjunction with the consultant, once one is hired. In an emailed message, she said “We are considering scheduling a special board meeting prior to the regularly scheduled April meeting.”

The regular meeting is scheduled for April 27.

Donegan, Director of Student Services Carrie De La Cruz and School Board President Kate Tarbert all came under fire from angry parents whose children are enrolled in the officially named Comprehensive Needs Program classroom that operates at Joseph Sears School. 

They told School Board members and administrators that the current system has failed their special-needs children. All of them insisted the district, which has recently had almost constant turnover of the program’s lead teacher, must view that as a systemic problem and solve it, in large part by infusing the program with resources, including proper staffing with higher pay scales.

Parents accused administrators of not listening to or dismissing parent concerns about the reasons they claim teachers have left, which they said was a toxic work environment of fear and intimidation. The most recent lead teacher resigned at the end of February.

In a lengthy statement, Tarbert defended the administration’s efforts on behalf of the program, saying in part, “as a board, we have seen all the planning and hard work the administrative team, including Superintendent Donegan and Dr. De La Cruz, have done behind the scenes” to support the program. 

Tarbert told listeners that the departed teacher’s role is being handled by two instructional aides, while an additional instructional aide has been hired and will start in that position after the spring break. She insisted that the program “has been fully and appropriately staffed all year.”

Donegan said in her Tuesday email to The Record that the two aides handling the lead teacher’s duties both have the special education teacher certification necessary to be the lead teacher. The actual position has been posted in order to fill it in time for next school year, wrote Donegan, who declined to share the personal circumstances leading to teachers’ resignations.

Tensions at the Monday meeting — already high after a weeping Brittany Smith said “I’ve lost so much trust in this administration,” implored the board to read teacher exit interviews, and continued speaking after her microphone was turned off, eventually cursing Tarbert — exploded almost as soon as Tarbert began to read her statement.

Tarbert’s words, “the information you have shared about staff who have left the district does not align with our general understanding of the reason for their voluntary resignations,” prompted shouted comments of “You’re insane” and “You’re delusional” from the audience. 

After tempers cooled slightly, Board Vice President Lisa Graham said “We sincerely appreciate the comments this evening, and all of the conversations leading up to this meeting, as well as those to come.”

She also said that while she and other parents moved to Kenilworth to take advantage of Joseph Sears School, “That does not mean that there isn’t always an opportunity to improve.”

Also during less heated portions of Monday’s discussion, parent Kyle Gillen said any independent review should include ongoing oversight, whether from the hired consultant or someone else, and that avoiding constant turnover should have been the top priority for school officials.

Smith pleaded with the board not to make the assessment process perfunctory. 

“Everything about the way this administration has bungled … is shameful and disgraceful,” parent Tanya Brown said, while parent Jennifer Price said her family should not have had to hire legal counsel to win proper care for their child. 

The program currently serves six students of various ages. It is operated with help from TrueNorth, the special education cooperative formerly known as the Northern Suburban Special Education District. (District 38 is a member of the cooperative but has followed the lead of other suburban districts in operating its special education needs with support from TrueNorth personnel.)

At the end of the meeting, Brown’s husband, Jack Brown, once more took administrators to task about the turnover following the end of the regular meeting. 

“In business if I hire people, a lot of people, and they keep quitting in less than a year, they’re not the problem; I’m the problem,” he said. Of De La Cruz, he said “your heart may be in the right place, but your program has failed.” 

He echoed other parents in saying Tarbert’s statement was “insulting” and urged the board and district officials to remember that “Our opinion matters more than yours. They’re our children.

“Do better.” 

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