Opinion ID: 782921
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Seattle School District

Text: 2 G, who is currently 17, has Down's syndrome 1 and tested in the mildly mentally retarded 2 range on a standard IQ evaluation at the ages of six and ten. During the 1992-93 school year (kindergarten), Seattle educators, on G's behalf, developed an IEP. This is a special education plan that must be customized for each special education student and that is required by the IDEA. G's IEP included a half day in a regular kindergarten classroom and a half day in a special education classroom, and was implemented at the Bagley Elementary School in Seattle. 3 3 Although G was successful in the special education classroom, she experienced behavior problems in the general education classroom. G was bossy and demanded frequent attention of both the teacher and her peers, with occasional outbursts. Seattle's Director of Special Education, Frosyne Mensendick, thought that this experience was likely to be indicative of G's future performance, and stated that she could not imagine placing G in a general education classroom. Eventually, at Ms. S's request, Seattle returned G on April 29, 1993 to a full-day program in the self-contained special education class.
4 On May 18, 1993, in anticipation of the 1993-94 school year (1st grade), Ms. S requested that G be placed in a general education classroom, but Seattle felt that such a placement was inappropriate. In June, G's IEP team agreed to reassign G to Alternative School # 1, which featured an unique and experimental multi-age classroom combining special education and general education students, staffed by a special education teacher and a paraprofessional aide. Ms. S did not sign this IEP, but permitted G to be enrolled in the program. This IEP included a special education curriculum with general education students in G's classroom. Although the form appears to prescribe 1650 minutes per week (5.5 hours per day) of special education and 1650 minutes per week of general education, it then shows a total of 1650 minutes per week (5.5 hours per day) for the program described above. Because a full school week in the Seattle School District is 1650 minutes per week, and G attended school for only 1650 minutes per week, we assume that the part of the form that reflects the total time is correct. 5 For the 1993-94 school year, G spent most of the day at Alternative School # 1 with twenty-three other students ranging in age from six to ten years old. Of the twenty-three students, five received special education services, and the remaining eighteen received individually tailored general education. 4 Although the majority of G's peers in this classroom were general education students, she received individually-designed instruction that was largely prepared by a certified special education teacher. G did not require a dedicated assistant in this classroom. Mensendick did not consider this placement to be a regular education setting. 6 Although her teacher noted that G had continuing difficulties with appropriate personal space, the placement at Alternative School # 1 was described as generally successful for G. Her teacher indicated that with the proper support, G could be successful in a setting with normally developing peers. 7 Ms. S and Seattle agreed that G would return to the classroom at Alternative School # 1 for the 1994-95 school year. G, however, was not re-enrolled there. G's regularly scheduled three-year assessment was due in February 1995, but was not conducted at that time. G was released from the Seattle School District on August 22, 1995.