Parents claim discrimination against disabled students at Denton ISD
DENTON – Outside Denton ISD's central offices, parents gathered to have their voices heard, believing their disabled children are being discriminated against at school.
"It's definitely been hard," Delia Sandoval said. "I've lost many hours of sleep. It's affected us emotionally."
Sandoval, the mother of a five-year-old daughter with a learning disability, expressed significant concerns shared by other parents in attendance.
"The whole year, predominantly the whole year, no certified special education teacher," she said. "She's regressed in certain areas and made no progress in many other areas."
Safety is another issue, she said.
"This comes back to again the big issue of not having properly staffed individuals to navigate these classrooms and support the kids day in and day out," Sandoval said.
Federal law prohibits disability discrimination and guarantees that students with disabilities have equal access to educational opportunities, including free appropriate public education (FAPE) in public elementary and secondary schools.
The parents have enlisted special education advocate Karen Mayer Cunningham to file complaints with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights, which currently lists two open Denton ISD "Disability - FAPE" investigations on its website.
"We are collecting families' information now to do a statewide, state systemic complaint because the Texas Education Agency needs to audit this district from the top to the bottom," Cunningham said.
In a statement to CBS News Texas, a spokesperson for Denton ISD wrote: "Denton ISD does not discriminate. We will continue to partner with parents to meet the needs of all students.
"Of the 33,348 students we serve, we are aware of two complaints made to the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.
"One is regarding a general education student surrounding football, and that individual is no longer enrolled in Denton ISD.
"Of the more than 5,400 students served by the Denton ISD Special Education Department, we have been made aware of one complaint related to special education. This involves a Pre-K student who qualified for special education services and is currently receiving services. Before filing this complaint, the parents had agreed with Denton ISD at every ARD meeting and were supportive, until hiring the referenced consultant.
"Please keep in mind that OCR complaints can take up to five years to resolve.
"Denton ISD stands committed to serving students of all abilities."
"I'm greatly saddened that the district does not take this seriously," parent Tanya East said. "As Karen said, there are some amazing staff here and there are some amazing teachers, but sadly that is not across the board in the district."